India’s Tata Steel tests biomass at ferro-chrome plant

India's Tata Steel has carried out a trial using charcoal as a feedstock at its domestic ferro-chrome unit, with it also open to importing the biomass product.

It said it finished the trial on 20 July, in which it replaced conventional reductants such as coke in the Athagarh ferro-chrome plant in east India's Odisha state with carbon-neutral biomass charcoal, made from the low-temperature burning of wood in an oxygen starved atmosphere. The carbon released during the ferro-chrome production process was balanced by carbon absorbed by the trees from which wood for the charcoal was taken, it added.

The trial was part of Tata Steel's sustainability drive to cut emissions from its operations. Athagarh has ferro-chrome production capacity of 55,000 t/yr. The use of 5pc of biomass in production is expected to lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 0.08/t of ferro-chrome, Tata Steel said, which is about 6pc of total CO2 emissions from the plant.

The company is carrying out more trials and feasibility studies to stabilise the use of biomass in ferro-chrome production, it said, adding that plans to commercialise biomass use as a feedstock have not been finalised yet. Tata Steel might also consider imports of charcoal if is commercially and technically feasible.

Tata Steel is also working with Australian resources firm BHP to adopt low-carbon iron and steel production. This includes using biomass and carbon capture and utilisation technology, which could cut emissions by up to 30pc for integrated steel mills.

By Nadhir Mokhtar