Posted on 16 Jul 2025
Morning Brief:As part of its ambitious net-zero carbon emissions steel production target of 2045, Tata Steel has drawn up measures to decarbonise its European facilities. While the proposed EAF in the UK is expected to start operations by 2027, the Ijmuiden steelworks in the Netherlands, one of the EUs leading facilities, is on the brink of a large-scale transformation.
The company is spearheading the Heracless project, which involves replacing blast furnace technology with a Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) plant utilising hydrogen and electric arc furnace (EAF). The Dutch government is formulating a framework for potential financial and regulatory support, which will require approval from the Netherlands Parliament and Tata Steels Board.
Green steel plan
Under the 'Green Steel Plan' Tata Steel is building two facilities: a factory where iron will be made using natural gas or hydrogen (DRP), and an electric furnace that melts this iron into steel (EAF). This process results in significantly lower CO emissions than the current process using coal.
The transition will take place step by step: in the first step, Blast Furnace 7 and Coke and Gas Plant 2 will be replaced. Tata Steel aims to have the new facilities operational by 2030, depending on when construction can begin. With the Green Steel Plan, the company aims to reduce emissions by 5 million tonnes (mnt) of CO per year. This will contribute substantially to Dutch climate goals for 2030.
Tata Steel had initially suggested that it would consider an alternative to shutting down Blast Furnace 7. This involved shutting down Blast Furnace 6. Tata argued that the production capacity of Blast Furnace 6 was lower than that of Blast Furnace 7, and therefore the amount of avoided CO2 emissions from the Heracless project would be smaller. Furthermore, Blast Furnace 6 was recently completely renovated, and additional environmental measures have been implemented for this facility.
At the same time, the transition to green steel would stimulate the development of energy and hydrogen infrastructure in the North Sea Canal area, which also benefits other companies. These projects have been designated as of national importance within the Multi-Year Infrastructure, Energy, and Climate Program of the Dutch government.
Direct reduction
In the initial phase, only natural gas will be used for iron reduction. Biogas or biomethane can also be purchased instead of natural gas. The DRI plant can use approximately 80% of hydrogen for the reduction, to be supplemented further with natural gas. This will be the final goal when sufficient hydrogen is available. The advantage of hydrogen over natural gas as a reducing agent is that it does not release CO2. Only water is produced.
Unlike a blast furnace, the pellets in a DRI plant are not melted. Reduced pellets retain their solid form but are more porous because oxygen has been removed. In direct processing, the hot and reduced pellets (hot DRI or HDRI) are transported to the EAF. In the event of abnormal operating conditions, such as a malfunction of the EAF, the pellets are cooled. The cooled pellets (cold DRI or CDRI) are stored in silos.
CO2 is captured from the gas stream generated in the DRI reactor, and the remaining gas, after purification, is reused as reduction gas in the DRI reactor. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) conducted by Tata Steel investigated various options for processing the captured CO2 or transporting it to an underground storage location.
NG & H2
New pipelines for natural gas will be installed to the DRI plant, the EAF, and to the auxiliary facilities. The DRI plant, in particular, will experience high natural gas consumption during the operational phase with natural gas.
New pipelines are being installed for hydrogen to the DRI plant for the operational phase with hydrogen. The hydrogen will be gradually brought to the desired pressure. The HNS national hydrogen network will likely operate at a pressure of approximately 50 bar. At the HNS receiving station, it will be brought to a lower pressure, to which Tata Steel will connect. The hydrogen will then be distributed to the DRI plant via pipelines.
DRI technologies
Tata Steel has chosen to base its proposal on Energirons technology. The MIDREX technology differs from the HYL/Energiron technology in several respects. A key difference is that MIDREX technology involves a separate reformer with catalysts, which first converts the natural gas into hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
This reduction gas is then fed to the bottom of the reaction column and introduced counter-currently with the iron ore pellets (similar to the blast furnaces and the proposed DRI plant). Because of this separate reformer installation, the MIDREX alternative takes up more space on the site, and space at the Ijmuiden site is limited.
To achieve good product quality, at least a weight percentage of approximately 2-3% carbon is required in the DRI. If this is not achieved, additional carbon must be added at the EAF or afterwards. However, the feasibility of this has not yet been demonstrated. The planned DRI plant will immediately produce 5% weight carbon.
The addition of carbon at the EAF or afterwards still remains uncertain, according to experts at Tata Steel, which was why HYL was preferred.
Outlook
As per scenario modeling conducted by Tata Steel, under Heracless, annual production will reach 6.8 mnt of liquid steel. This is lower than the current capacity of over 7 mnt because the new plants have a smaller capacity than the blast furnace they replace.
The scrap share will increase to approximately 28%. This percentage also applies to the two production routes individually: the scrap share in the converters of the OSF will increase to approximately 28%, and the scrap share in the EAF will also be approximately 28%.
During the operational phase of Heracless with natural gas, the primary energy source will shift from coal to natural gas. The energy content of coal use will be halved (to 58 PJ per year), while natural gas consumption will increase significantly (to 47 PJ per year). Electricity consumption will also increase (to 16 PJ per year).
During the operational phase with hydrogen, energy will shift from natural gas to hydrogen. Natural gas consumption will fall to 25 PJ per year, but hydrogen will be added by 20 PJ per year.
This excludes electricity for hydrogen production using electrolysis for Tata Steels hydrogen consumption. The required hydrogen will be purchased from external hydrogen producers and consumed via pipelines. Tata Steel currently has no intention of producing and/or storing hydrogen itself.
Source:BigMint
