The Contribution of Carbon Capture and Storage to the Decarbonization of India’s Steel Industry
Hon Chung Lau
Abstract
India is the world’s second largest manufacturer of crude steel. In fiscal year (FY) 2023, it produced 125 Mt of crude steel while emitting 320 Mt of CO 2 during this process. CO 2 emission from steelmaking contributed to 12% of India’s total CO 2 emission. This paper investigates the contribution of carbon capture and storage (CCS) to decarbonize India’s steel industry. A first-of-a-kind CO 2 source–sink mapping exercise is conducted to connect 15 integrated steel plants in India with subsurface CO 2 sinks including gas fields, oil fields, and saline aquifers by considering four CCS field development concepts. Results have identified six world-class CCS projects in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Gujarat, and Maharashtra where nine of the steel plants will be retrofitted for CCS. Together, these projects will mitigate 108 Mtpa of CO 2 or 41% of total CO 2 emission from India’s steel industry. In the Maharashtra CCS project, CO 2 from the JSW Steel Plant in Dolvi will be used for CO 2 -enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the offshore Mumbai High Oil Field with the potential to produce 1452 MMbbl of incremental oil. In the other five CCS projects, CO 2 will be permanently stored in saline aquifers. Engineering efforts needed to implement these projects are discussed.