Tata Steel, BHP to work on low carbon steel manufacturing

India’s Tata Steel has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Australian resources company BHP to jointly study and explore low carbon iron and steelmaking technology, the Mumbai-based company said on July 20.

Under the partnership, Tata Steel and BHP intend to collaborate on ways to reduce the emission intensity of the blast furnace steel route, via two priority areas – the use of biomass as a source of energy and the application of carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) in steel production.

“The partnership aims to help both companies progress toward their climate change goals, and support India’s ambitions to be carbon neutral by 2070,” Tata Steel said.

The technologies explored in this partnership can potentially reduce the emission intensity of integrated steel mills by up to 30%. “More importantly, these projects demonstrate how abatements applied to the blast furnace iron-making process, which contributes to more than 60% of India’s steel production, can materially reduce the carbon intensity of the existing capacity,” Tata Steel added.

Beyond these projects, Tata Steel and BHP have committed to a robust ongoing knowledge exchange that will see both parties explore further collaborations, ecosystems, and business opportunities in the steel value chain and the research and innovation sectors in both India and Australia.