Kobelco Group’s CO₂ Reduction Solution for Blast Furnace Ironmaking Enhanced

Kobe Steel, Ltd. announces that it has successfully demonstrated a technology that can reduce CO₂ emissions by 25%^*1 from a large blast furnace. Significantly exceeding the previous results of the Kobelco Group’s CO₂ Reduction Solution for Blast Furnace Ironmaking^*2, announced in February 2021, the new technology has achieved the world’s highest level of CO₂ reduction effect among the CO₂ reduction methods demonstrated in existing blast furnaces that have been made public so far. The demonstration test was conducted for approximately two months using a large blast furnace (4,844 m³) at Kakogawa Works from April to June 2023.

The quantity of CO₂ emissions from the blast furnace is determined by the reducing agent rate (RAR)^*3, namely the quantity of carbon fuel used in the blast furnace. In the demonstration test, it was verified that RAR could be stably reduced to the world’s lowest level of 386 kg/tHM (ton hot metal) by charging a large amount of hot briquetted iron (HBI)^*4 produced by the MIDREX^® Process^*5. The results prove that this technology can reduce CO₂ emissions by 25% compared to a conventional method^*6. In addition, the world's lowest level of coke rate (230 kg/tHM) was also achieved in the demonstration test of this technology. As a CO₂ reduction solution that draws on existing technologies, it enables stable and early reduction of a large amount of CO₂ emissions from commercial large blast furnaces.

The new technology has been developed by taking advantage of our strengths as a company engaged in a diverse range of businesses—exploring further integration and enhancement of our engineering business’s MIDREX technologies^*7 and steel business’s blast furnace operation technologies.

The key technologies utilized for this demonstration are:

All of these technologies were developed exclusively by the Kobe Steel Group (Kobelco Group), but they are also applicable to other companies’ blast furnaces.

We will continue to improve our low-CO₂ blast furnace operation technologies, including further reducing CO₂ emissions and lowering CO₂ reduction costs. We aim to use this new solution not only to reduce our own CO₂ emissions, but also to accelerate CO₂ reduction in the global steel industry by promoting the introduction of HBI charging in blast furnaces worldwide.

The success of this demonstration is a result of our Group’s ongoing efforts to achieve the 2030 target for reducing CO₂ emissions in its production processes^*8. By utilizing the CO₂ reduction effect achieved by this demonstration, we will work to build a system to increase production and supply of Kobenable Steel^*9, Japan’s first low-CO₂ blast furnace steel product and promote its use by customers and society.

Our Group’s mission is to develop and establish technologies that can reduce CO₂ emissions as quickly as possible and at the lowest cost in order to proceed with the initiatives to create a green society toward the goal of achieving carbon neutrality in 2050 as declared by the Japanese government.

Our Group has always strived to and will continue to work to reduce CO₂ emissions through the integration of technologies in a way unique to Kobelco with a view to realizing a world in which people, now and in the future, can fulfill their hopes and dreams while enjoying safe, secure, and prosperous lives.