Tata Steel has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with BHP, Australian multinational mining, metals and petroleum public company, to jointly study and explore low carbon iron and steelmaking technology. Under the partnership, Tata Steel and BHP will collaborate on ways to reduce the emission intensity of the blast furnace steel route, via two areas – the use of biomass as a source of energy and the application of carbon capture and utilization (CCU) in steel production.
The technologies explored in this partnership can potentially reduce the emission intensity of integrated steel mills by up to 30 per cent. Further, these projects demonstrate how abatements applied to the blast furnace iron-making process, which contributes to more than 60 per cent of India’s steel production, can materially reduce the carbon intensity of the existing capacity.
Beyond these projects, Tata Steel and BHP have committed to 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.
Tata Steel has also signed an agreement with Shell India Markets Private Limited to evaluate and co-develop short- and long-term options for improvement in energy efficiency, optimisation of demand around carbon-intensive products and services and others. Additionally, Tata Steel and the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) have signed an MoU to collaborate on CCUS, for joint development of advanced technologies with 38 CSIR labs across the country.