HISARNA – DEVELOPING A SUSTAINABLE STEEL PRODUCTION PROCESS

ABSTRACT

The steel industry in Europe was looking for a way to increase the efficiency of steel production, and
redesign the production process in order reduce emissions in order to meet the European Union’s targets
of cutting the emissions by 80-95% of the 1990 levels by 2050. The steel industry formed a consortium
along with universities and research organizations to identify technologies to help reduce carbon
emissions, ensure energy efficiency, and achieve flexibility in the selection of raw materials in the steel
industry.

The consortium chose the European unit of India-based steel maker Tata Steel to execute a project to
develop new steel making technology. The result was a new steel making technology HIsarna. This was
developed and tested in Tata Steel’s IJmuiden plant in the Netherlands. The case describes the way in
which the project was developed, executed, by bringing in different technologies, knowledge, and skills
from various stakeholders.
 HISARNA – DEVELOPING A SUSTAINABLE STEEL PRODUCTION PROCESS

CASE

“Sustainability and a circular economy are very important for our future in Europe, HIsarna offers
benefits in both domains.”1

Koen Meijer, ULCOS/HIsarna Project Coordinator, R&D Ironmaking, Tata Steel

Steel, the most recycled industrial material in the world, was produced through highly energy intensive
methods. Though the energy used to produce steel has been reducing since the 1960s, it consumed 6% of
all the power generated in the world, and accounted for 6.7% of all the CO2 emissions. The European
Union was targeting to cut its emissions to 80 – 95% of the 1990 levels by 2050 through the adoption
circular economy and was looking at closing the loop of product lifecycles through recycling and reuse.

As far as the steel industry was concerned it was looking at increasing the efficiency of production, and
redesign processes to reduce CO2 emissions. In this direction, in 2004, eight steel makers in Europe along
with Europe 48 universities and research organizations formed a consortium Ultra-Low Carbon Dioxide
Steelmaking (ULCOS. The main objective of ULCOS was to identify technologies and processes to help
reduce carbon emissions, ensure energy efficiency, and achieve flexibility in the selection of raw
materials in the steel industry. The consortium decided to bring improvements to the steel making process
and looked at several ways to bring changes in the way steel was manufactured in an economically and
environmentally viable manner.

In this direction, European unit of India-based steel major Tata Steel was chosen to execute the € 75
million project to develop a new technology. This resulted in HIsarna steelmaking process, which
consisted of two different processes, one from metal and mining company Rio Tinto and another from
Tata Steel. The process was developed and tested at Tata Steel’s IJmuiden plant in the Netherlands. After
several years of experiments and trial runs HIsarna was successful in reducing the carbon footprint in
steel production by 20%. By capturing the pure CO2 that was generated during the process, the carbon
footprint could be 80% smaller.

“HIsarna’s results show we can make a significant contribution to improving the sustainability of steel
production with this Tata Steel technology. The development of this technology forges our ambition to
become a steel company which is sustainable in all respects,” 2 said Hans Fischer, Chief Executive Officer
and Chief Technical Officer of Tata Steel’s European operations. The steel makers were of the view that
HIsarna technology would prove to be a game changer in the steel industry, pave the way for sustainable
steel production globally and also offer solutions to challenges like increasing pollution, growing CO 2 and
greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change.

1
“The People behind HIsarna,” www.tatasteeleurope.com.
2
Tata Steel unveils sustainable steel production technology in Europe, economictimes.indiatimes.com, September
06, 2018
Tata Steel

Tata Steel is a part of India-based conglomerate Tata Group. Tata Group was found in 1868 as a trading
company and had operations in more than 100 countries by 2018. The Group had featured on the list of
world’s most reputable and most innovative companies for several years. Tata Sons Private Limited is the
holding company of Tata Group. 66% equity capital of Tata Sons was held by philanthropic trusts.

Tata Group always strived towards doing the business in a sustainable manner. In the mid-2000s the
group introduced a policy to measure its carbon footprint. The group was active in climate advocacy and
also measured water footprint since 2012. In 2014, a new organization the Tata sustainability Group was
formed, which partnered with other Tata companies in their CSR initiatives.

Tata Steel was incorporated in 1907 in India as Tata Iron and Steel Company Ltd and commenced its
Blast Furnace operations in 1911. In 1918 it established India’s first steel plant. In 1984, it introduced
Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) steelmaking, where liquid steel was produced in 45 minutes. It then went
on to introduce new technologies like Hot Strip mill, Cold rolling mill, etc.

The company also expanded globally through joint ventures and acquisitions. These included joint
venture with Blue Scope Steel, in Australia; joint venture with Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha in Japan;
Mozambique coal project in association with Riversdale Mining; a venture with the state owned company
for mineral development in the Ivory Coast for the development of iron ore deposits in Mount Nimba; and
with New Millennium Capital, Canada for developing iron ore products.

In 2007, Tata Steel acquired Europe’s second largest steel produced Corus for US$ 12 billion (British
Steel and Koninklijke Hoogovens merged to form Corus in 1999). After the acquisition Tata Steel became
the sixth largest steel producer in the world.

By 2017, Tata Steel had manufacturing units in 26 countries and commercial presence in more than 50
countries. The company’s production capacity was 28 million tons per annum as of March 2017. It
operated thorough six Strategic Business Units - Bearings Division, Ferro Alloys and Minerals Division,
Agrico Division, Tata Growth Shop (TGS), Tubes Division and Wire Division. (Refer to Exhibit I for the
global presence of Tata Steel).

Tata Steel was the second largest steel producer in Europe as of 2017, with a crude steel production
capacity of 12.1 million tons per annum. In Europe it had two integrated blast furnace-based steelmaking
sites in IJmuiden in the Netherlands and Port Talbot in South Wales. Rolling mills, coating lines and
others operations were located in the UK, Belgium, France, Turkey, the Netherlands, Sweden, and
Germany. As of March 2018, sales of Tata Steel in Europe stood at € 7.9 billion.

Taking care of community and environment was the core value of Tata Steel, and the company was
committed to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. Tata Steel was of the view that these
were necessary to reduce production costs, improve competitive position and also to combat climate
change. The company maximized the usage of by-products and recycling of waste in steel production.

The concern for climate change and concentration on reduction in CO2 emissions was more prominent in
Europe where the steel industry was working towards these goals together. Tata Steel’s emissions in
IJmuiden plant in the Netherlands was 1.7 tons of Carbon dioxide per one ton of steel3. (Refer to Exhibit
II for the details of Tata Group and IJmuiden plant)

Steel Industry

Steel industry played a major role in the global economy. Steel was extensively used in industries like
construction, heavy engineering, infrastructure development, shipping, automobiles, as well as the
production of coal, natural gas, electricity, and raw minerals. The production of steel increased constantly
over the years, and 1.5 billion tons of steel was produced in 2012 as against 0.85 million tons in 2001.
Steel, an alloy of iron and carbon, was one of the most recycled industrial materials in the world with
97% of steel being reused, remanufactured or recycled to create new products.

In steel making two fundamental routes were used – integrated steel plant and Mini-mill.

The dominating technology used in integrated steel plant was Blast Furnace. It involved reducing iron ore
to iron (hot metal in liquid form and pig iron in solid form) and then converting iron to steel. Iron oxide
ore, coke and limestone were injected into the top of blast furnace, and pre-heated air was blown into the
bottom. The preheated air reacted with coke to give CO, which then reacted with iron oxide to produce
iron and carbon dioxide. Pig iron from blast furnace and ferrous scrap was refined in basic oxygen
furnace into steel. The liquid steel was then treated metallurgically before it was cast in various shapes.
60% of steel production in EU happened through this route.

But this process was under pressure due to its economic and environmental impact. Preheating used lot of
energy, and making coke was also an energy-intensive process requiring crushed coal to be heated to
1100°C without oxygen. In case the ore had low iron content, it had to be fired in a furnace to produce
large pieces called sinter.

In mini-mill, direct reduction-based technologies (DRI) were used. Iron was converted into steel in a
basic oxygen furnace by blowing pure oxygen at high speed into molten iron through Electric Arc
Furnace (EAF). The excess carbon present in iron was brunt leading to emissions of CO and CO2. For
this process high grade ores with more than 68% Iron had to be used. DRI needed cheap natural gas and
electricity. In Europe such facility was located in Hamburg, Germany. This process consumed high
electricity and emissions were also high.

Mini-mill also used Smelting reduction process, where hot metal was produced from ore at molten state
without using blast furnace. Iron was smelted to produce hot metal, which was converted into liquid steel
in a BOF. It generated slag that was put to further use. This technology was mostly used in processes
where coke was replaced by coal. It was used in regions where sufficient primary energy sources were
absent. The CO2 intensity in smelting was 25% higher than blast furnace. (Refer to Figure I for the
details of steel production).

3
Global average was 1.9 tons of CO2 per ton of steel.
 Figure I

Steel Production

Source: www.totalmateria.com

Integrated steel plants were the largest point sources of CO2 emissions. But blast furnace continued to be
the single largest process for ironmaking. However, its proportion was expected to reduce by 2050. (Refer
to Exhibit III for Hot metal production in the European Union)

Some manufacturers reduced the energy use by capturing and reusing by-product gases to generate heat
and electricity using pulverized coal and through thermal insulation. With the improvements in
technology the energy used to make steel reduced by 30% by 2015 compared to 2000. Still, steel
continued to be an energy-intensive production system. Consuming 5-6% of the power produced globally.

Carbon emissions were a part and parcel of steel production. Carbon was used to produce liquid iron to
bind oxygen atoms present in the ore in order to produce pure liquid iron. Steel production accounted for
6.7% of all CO2 emissions and iron and steel industry was the largest industrial source of CO2 emissions.
On an average 1.9 tons of CO2 was emitted for every ton of steel produced. Primary iron making
accounted for 85% of energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

Rising energy costs, raw material expenses and stricter environmental regulations made steel
manufacturers look for efficient and sustainable processes of steel production.

Sustainable steel production called for a system that reduced the use of energy and was flexible in terms
of raw materials used and energy utilized. Such a system could use low quality coal and iron and also use
natural gas, biomass and clean electricity instead of coking coal. Developing such systems called for huge
investments and capital expenses, and could be done only with the support of governments and consortia
of global steel majors.

The steel industry in Europe had made a significant progress in reducing carbon emissions, but was
looking at further reduction in the energy use and lowering carbon emissions. With the world steel
consumption expected to double by 2050, the steel makers were looking at lowering the CO 2 emissions
without adding considerable costs and undermining process efficiency. This called for sweeping changes
in steel making process. The European steelmakers almost reached the limits of the available processes ,
and for achieving further reductions, a new process was needed.

ULCOS - Ultra-Low Carbon Dioxide Steelmaking

The Paris Agreement4, set standards for CO2 reductions globally. The European Union was targeting to
cut the emission levels by 80% - 95% the 1990 levels by 2050. The European Union was also looking
towards developing a circular economy to reduce pressure on the environment and to enhance security of
supply of raw materials.

In 2004, the European Union asked the steel industry to reduce its carbon footprint. The European steel
industry on its part was committed to lower process costs, reduce energy use, and enable more resource
efficient processes. Thus ULCOS consortium was formed in 2004, with a purpose of identifying
processes that help reduce carbon emissions in steel production by 50% per ton by 2050. ULCOS was the
largest steel industry project on climate change mitigation. The core partners included steel companies -
ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel, ThyssenKrupp, Ilva, Voestalpine, LKAB, DillingerHütte/Saarstahl, SSAB, and
Rautaruukki. There were 48 institutes, universities and engineering companies that were co-partners. The
budget of ULCOS was € 70 million, of which partners funded 60% and the European Commission
contributed the rest through Research and Technological Development. To approach the issue of climate
change proactively, the steel industry invested significantly in evaluating technologies to reduce carbon
footprint in steel production.

The program was carried out in two phases. The first phase (2004-2010) was theoretical research and
pilot test phase. The second phase (2010-2015) was for preparation of industrial application of the
technical solution.

The consortium looked for iron making process that could reduce CO2 emission, was economical,
technically mature, and gave other environmental benefits, while fitting with the existing configuration.

ULCOS program had four steps:

(i) process concept-building,

(ii) large-scale demonstration
(iii) large-scale experimentation of a first commercial plant
(iv) deployment in Europe and in the world.

The consortium went through over 80 concept options and shortlisted 4 processes for further investigation
and scale up for commercial implementation. (Refer to Table I for different processes).

Table I
Four Processes shortlisted by ULCOS
 Top gas recycling blast furnace: The gases were separated and the useful gases were fed back
into the furnace. This resulted in savings on coke use. The existing blast furnaces could be fitted
with this technology.

4
The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,
dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance, starting in the year 2020.
  CCF or Hisarna: This technology is based on smelting and used considerably less coke. This
reduced CO2 emissions.
 Gas based Reduction Here iron was produced directly from iron ore via a reducing gas produced
from natural gas. After this the iron is converted into steel.
 Electrolysis of iron ore: Here iron and oxygen were produced by electrolysis of iron ore. This
technology was the least developed in comparison with the three alternatives, however the
process emitted no CO2. This was developed specifically for the ULCOS program, and would be
effective when green electricity was accessible
www.sustainableinsteel.eu

These four processes were tested and ULCOS decided on developing the HIsarna further.

HISARNA

HIsarna originated from HI-for HIsmelt (process from Rio Tinto) and sarana from Isarna, celtic word for
iron. It was a combination of three processes namely - heated screw coal pyrolysis feeder; Cyclone
Converter Furnace (CCF) and HIsmelt vessel.

For the HIsarna process, Tata Steel’s hot metal desulfurization plant in IJmuidin was chosen due to
location advantages like railway connectivity, deep see harbor, good logistic connections and suitable
capacity. The initial stage of the project was supervised by ULCOS technical committee and Rio Tinto.

HIsmelt was a Smelt Reduction vessel (SRV) started by Rio Tinto in the 1980s in a pilot plant in
Maxhütte, Germany. It was started as an ironmaking modification bottom blown steel converter process. 5
This was followed by another plant in Western Australia where 8 tons of steel was produced per hour. In
the early 2000s, a commercial plant was started in Kwinana Australia with production capacity of 60,000
tons per annum. Though the plant was later closed down due to unfavorable market conditions, the
process left behind huge learning and experience.

CCF was developed in 1986 by then Hoogovens in IJmuiden. This was used for melting and partial
reducing of partial iron ores. Pure oxygen was injected to generate required melting temperatures, and the
fines were separated from the gas by centrifugal flow of the gas. This consisted of ore and oxygen
injection into CCF in the presence of hot smelter gas, and molten ore was collected in slag pot. This unit
was stored and looking for being added with a direct smelting unit.

CCF was selected by ULCOS as one of the four high-potential technologies, and this was brought
together with HIsmlet, to get a win-win combination.

HIsarna concept involved two stage contact between iron and gas. Both the stages were operated above
melting temperatures. The two stage process was highly integrated and both were operated as a single
smelting furnace. (Refer to Figure II for the two-stage concept).

5
Iron oxides in the slag were reduced at the slag / metal interface. Then granular coal was injected which supplied
carbon and created intense mixing. Due to this the FeO in the slag was low.
The CCF is mainly a pre-reduction vessel that pre-reduced and melted the iron ore particles, while the
final reduction to metallic iron took place in SRV. CCF was placed above SRV, and crushed ore and
oxygen was injected into CCF the oxygen produced necessary heat to reduce and melt the iron ore. The
molten iron oxide fell from CCF into the molten iron bath in SRV. (Refer to Exhibit IV for the depiction
of HIsarna).

Figure II
Two-Stage Concept

To produce liquid iron in a blast furnace, the raw materials were processed. Iron ore was converted into
sinter or pellet and coking coal was converted into coke. HIsarna technology eliminated these processes,
and fine iron ore could be fed directly into the plant without any processing. The raw materials used could
be of low quality and could be made of scrap steel. HIsarna eliminated pre-processing steps and a
complete production stage phased out.

HIsarna consisted of a reactor with temperatures above the melting point of iron throughout the vessel.
The iron ore was melted and converted into liquid iron. Pulverized iron ore, coal dust, and oxygen were
introduced into CCF where the ore partially reduced and melted and dripped into the bottom of the vessel.
At this place powdered coal was injected, causing the oxygen from the iron to bind with carbon creating
pure liquid iron, which was tapped. The CO that formed created hot gases that provided heat for the
reaction occurring in CCF.

The process did not require coke, sinter or pellets, was 30% more energy efficient and 2% less CO2
intensive. Experts said that the impact of HIsarna could be similar to that of continuous casting during the
20th century, which made processes like ingot casting and rolling redundant.

HIsarna produced almost pure CO2 and the gas was suited for capture, storage and use. Capturing could
lead to total CO2 reduction of 80% from steel production and substantial reduction in emissions of the
particles and reduction of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. HIsarna could use coal, biomass or natural
gas, which made it environment friendly.

Experiment with HIsarna

The IJmuiden, based in Velsen-Noord, the Netherlands, which was founded in 1918, became a part of
Tata Steel after the acquisition of Corus. It employed around 9000 people and produced 7 million tons of
steel annually. As a part of the ULCOS project, Tata Steel built the HIsarna pilot plant in 2010. The € 20
million was funded jointly by ULCOS, the European Commission and the Dutch Ministry of Economic
Affairs.

The process of testing HIsarna was done in different phases beginning 2011. The project team was led by
Koen Meijer of Tata Steel and had members from Tata Steel Engineering, Tata Steel Research, Rio Tinto
and ULCOS. (Refer to Exhibit V for different campaigns)

Campaign A – Feasibility of the new process.

The fist campaign was carried out between April and June 2011. Its objective was to show that liquid
iron can be produced without prior processing of the raw materials. It also included hot commissioning of
all the pilot plant systems; investigation and development of safe and reliable start-up procedures; shut
down procedures; and identification of necessary modification for the next phases.

For this purpose Tata Steel signed a licensing agreement with Rio Tinto6. As per the agreement both the
companies decided to work together, share the knowledge of their technologies to come up with a new
process. The process used CCF and HIsmelt. Through the combination of these technologies the emission
of CO2 could be reduced and lower cost raw materials and feeds could be used. It was also expected to
result in elimination of a few stages in ironmaking process. (Refer to Exhibit VI for conventional steel
making Vs. HIsarna)

The agreement also dealt with benefits of the technology in the future and how it will be made available
to the members of ULCOS. The agreement assigned Rio Tinto the exclusive marketing rights to promote
HIsarna as a complete technology package to the steel industry. The MD and CEO of Tata Steel in
Europe, Dr Karl-Ulrich Köhler (Köhler) said, “Commissioning of the HIsarna pilot plant represents a
potentially key step towards a compact and low-cost ironmaking process with a significantly reduced
environmental impact. The plant demonstrates one of the first and most promising ways in which the
European steel industry is developing breakthrough technologies in response to the challenge of climate
change.”7

The first experiment failed and called for various improvements. This was followed by three successful
startups. By the end of the phase 60% of the design capacity was achieved and the engineers succeeded in
producing liquid iron and the first metal was tapped on May 20, 2011. This showed that the plant using
the new technology was not merely a theory and could operate in practice. In the first campaign itself the
Carbon and capture and storage (CCS) was tested8. Gas utilization was at 78% as against the target of
85%.

After this campaign several improvements were made to the pilot plant and the operating procedures.

Campaign B – Stable Process

6
Rio Tinto Group is an Anglo-Australian multinational and one of the world's largest metals and mining
corporations. The company was founded in 1873, when a multinational consortium of investors purchased a mine
complex on the Rio Tinto, in Huelva, Spain, from the Spanish government
7
Tata Steel and Rio Tinto sign agreement on HIsarna , www.tatasteel.com, April 20, 2011
8
CCS is the process of capturing waste Carbon dioxide from large point source. It prevents large amounts of CO2
from being released into the atmosphere.
The second test campaign was conducted between October 17 and December 4, 2012. The objective was
to produce liquid iron for a longer, sustained period of 8 to 12 hours. On starting the second campaign,
Köhler said, “We at Tata Steel are very proud of the HIsarna project. If it succeeds, in the future, the steel
industry will be able to significantly reduce CO2 emissions from iron making. HIsarna is living proof of
European steelmakers’ commitment to help create a more sustainable society by identifying and
developing innovative technological solutions.”9

This phase looked at eliminating possible bottlenecks and also investigated the refractory wear. The target
for this campaign was to maintain 80% design capacity. The process started with heating the furnace to
the right temperature and then making liquid iron using the technology.

In the last week of the campaign the target of 8 tons / hour design capacity was achieved. All the main
process parameters including metal composition, temperature, gas utilization and heat loss was within the
expected range.

Campaign C – Producing liquid iron for sustained periods

The third campaign was carried out from May 28 to June 28 2013. The main objective of this campaign
was to produce liquid iron for long periods and carrying trial for using different raw materials. During this
phase information about future scale up work was gathered. Investigation was done about the primary raw
materials and their flexibility. The objective was to increase production rate and maintain stable
conditions for more than 12 hours. Primary raw materials like high-grade hematite ores of different sizes,
low grade ironstone ore, were used. During this phase for the first time commercial grade steel was made
from HIsarna. The iron was also produced for continuous periods lasting two to three days.

Campaign D – Sustained Production

The fourth campaign has run from 13 May to 29 June 2014. This aimed to produce liquid iron in a series
of production runs each lasting several days. During this stage different types of coal and iron ore were
also tested.

Campaign E – Six month sustained campaign

This phase was started in October 2017. Before this process started, installation was overhaul of the new
off-gas duct was carried out. A coal grinding, drying and screening facility for ore and lime was
constructed. The raw material storage capacity was increased, a gas analysis lab was constructed and an
electronic monitoring system was reprogrammed. For six months tests were done using steel scrap. The
results showed that upto 53% of material used in the process could be scrap.

Then the concentration was on identifying the ideal raw material mix, looking for options to recycle steel
slag, testing use of CO2 to inject raw materials, and checking whether CO2 could be captured and stored,
which would result in reducing the emissions by 80%.

9
Second ULCOS HIsarna campaign begins at Tata Steel in Ijmuiden, www.tata.com, October 04, 2012
Campaign F – Integration with CO2 Capture

This was the final phase of the campaign. In this phase steel scrap and biomass were used and CO 2
reduction of more than 50% was achieved. According to Hans Fischer, “HIsarna’s results show we can
make a significant contribution to improving the sustainability of steel production with this Tata Steel
technology. The development of this technology forges our ambition to become a steel company which is
sustainable in all respects.”10 After the successful test runs, the commercialization of the technology was
expected to take place by 2020.

The Game Changer

HIsarna was expected to become a game changer that significantly improved steel production’s
sustainability performance. Steel companies and scientists from all across the world took a keen interest
in the development of HIsarna, and touted it as a revolutionary innovation that had eliminated 2 out of the
3 process steps for iron making and was seen as a solution to high energy use and CO 2 emissions.

In conventional blast furnace, the raw materials iron ore and metallurgical coal needed to be pre-
processed into lumps of iron ore - sinter and small balls - pellets, and cokes11. In the HIsarna process,
there was no need to pre-process ores and the raw material could be injected as powders and they were
directly converted into liquid iron. Coking plants, sinter plants and pellet plants could be phased away.
This saved huge amounts of energy, was good on environment and also lowered manufacturing costs.

The carbon dioxide emissions reduced by 20%. The HIsarna process produced CO 2 that was 100% pure
and it could be either captured or stored immediately. This had eliminated the expensive gas separation
process completely. If this strategy was adopted, combination of Hisarna with storage could lead to CO 2
savings of 80% from steel production process. Apart from CO2 several other steel by-products could be
reused and emissions of fine particles, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide were reduced 60% to 80%,
which made steel manufacturing a closed loop. (Refer to Exhibit VII for HIsarna with Carbon Capture).

The benefits of the process were manifold. The need to preprocess the oars was eliminated and the use of
metallurgical coal was done away with, and instead steam coals and high ash coals could be used. This
enabled use of wide range of ore and coal qualities, allowing production of high-quality steel using
cheaper and widely available raw materials. This also lowered operational and capital sustaining costs.
This meant more recycled steel in the steel making process. It was reported that further improvements in
the process would help in recovering zinc from coated steel scrap. Thus HIsarna was expected to play a
pivotal role in meeting the recycling goals of the circular economy, through its ability to combine primary
steelmaking with recycling.

By 2017, € 75 million was invested in developing HIsarna technology. The partner companies funded
60% of it and 40% was from European Union, the Dutch Economics Ministry and the European Research
Fund for coal and steel. In 2017, Tata Steel obtained IP rights from Rio Tinto, thus Tata Steel owned all
the IP for HIsarna.

10
Tata Steel’s HIsarna technology exceeds expectations in sustainable steel production
Steel News - Published on Fri, 07 Sep 2018
11
The two raw material processing stages in the blast furnace – coking the production of coal from coal and
sintering which referred to agglomeration of iron ore.
Looking Ahead

The main challenge was to develop HIsarna into industrial scale, and transition to specific location size
and configuration. After successful runs, the design of HIsarna industrial plant had started. The plant was
two to three times the existing plant and could make ten times more liquid iron. This called for
investments of upto € 300 million and needed support from governments across the European Union.
Even after the completion, HIsarna process had to be tested for several years before it can start producing
steel commercially.

However, the potential of HIsarna in the EU steel sector could be limited, as increase in steel
consumption in the region was projected to be marginal, which could be met by the existing blast
furnaces. The cost of the HIsarna was about 50% of the cost of a blast furnace.

Another challenge would be scaling up the technology successfully so that the steel companies across the
world would adopt it. They could dispense with pre-processing of raw materials, have a wider choice of
raw materials and recycled materials, and reduce CO2 emissions. Done on a larger scale, the benefits from
the adoption of this technology were innumerable and could delivery greater environmental and economic
sustainability. This would also help in European industry’s move towards low-carbon economy and
European Commission’s ambitious agenda to transform the EU economy into circular economy, where
the value of products and materials was maintained for as long as possible.

Exhibit I
Tata Steel – Global Presence

Source: www.tatasteel.com
 Exhibit II
Tata Group – IJmuiden Plant

Source: Presentation by Tata Steel, Europe

Exhibit III
CO2 Emissions and Energy Consumption Per ton of Crude Steel 1960-2014

Presentation by EUROFER
 Exhibit IV
HIsarna

Source: Tata Steel

 Exhibit V

HIsarna Process – Key Development Achievements

Source: Presentation by Tata Steel Europe

Exhibit VI

Conventional Steel Making Vs HIsarna

Source: Presentation by Tata Steel Europe

 Exhibit VII

HIsarna with Carbon Capture

Source: Tata Steel Presentation

 HISARNA – DEVELOPING A SUSTAINABLE STEEL PRODUCTION PROCESS

INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL

This case is about HIsarna, a new steel production technology that was developed as an
alternative for the existing steel production technologies, which were energy intensive processes
and were high on CO2 emissions. The new process came about in the wake of Paris Agreement,
which drove CO2 emissions globally. The European Union targeted to cut the emissions to 80-
90% of 1990 levels by 2050.

The European Union was also looking at adopting circular economy, which would not only
reduce pressure on the environment, but also enhance security of supply of raw materials and
lead to economic growth. As far as the steel industry was concerned it was looking at increasing
the efficiency of production, and redesign production processes to reduce CO 2 emissions. In this
direction, in 2004, the steel industry in Europe formed a consortium Ultra-Low Carbon Dioxide
Steelmaking (ULCOS) to identify technologies to help reduce carbon emissions, ensure energy
efficiency, and achieve flexibility in the selection of raw materials in the steel industry.

The consortium was of the view that a completely new process needed to be developed as the
limits of the existing production systems were already achieved. This led to a breakthrough
technology - HIsarna, which removed a number of energy-intensive pre-processes, provided
flexibility in terms of quality of raw materials, and use of fuels. In the process the CO 2 emissions
reduced by 20%, and by capturing the high quality CO2, the emissions could be reduced by 80%.
The emissions of other fine particles could also be reduced.

The technology was tested in pilot plant of Tata Steel Europe in the Netherlands and the € 75
million project was funded by ULCOS, European Union and the Dutch Government. HIsarna
was a combination of two different technologies, one from metal and mining company Rio Tinto
and another from Tata Steel. After years of trial runs and experiments, Tata Steel was all set to
take the new sustainable production process into an industrial scale. This called for more
investments and it remained to be seen if the steel majors from across the world would show
interest in adopting the new technology in a bid to reduce emissions, or continue with the
traditional steel making processes..

INTENDED AUDIENCE/PLACEMENT/COURSE

The case is intended for MBA students as part of the courses in Project Management, project
execution

Objectives
 To examine how steel industry could move toward a low-carbon future and reduce the
negative impact of its production
 To examine an in-depth the circular economy and the role of steel
 To understand the industry’s approach towards sustainable production
 To demonstrate the way in which manufacturing processes could be redesigned to
increase production efficiency and achieve lower emissions

1) What is the role of new process like HIsarna in reducing the carbon emissions and
making the production processes efficient?

The industrial companies accounted for 1/4th of the global GDP and employment. Global
steel production, which was approximately 1,600 million tons per annum in 2015, is
projected to grow 30 percent to 2,100 million tons per annum by 2050. During this time
the production of recycled steel was estimated to double and that of virgin steel would be
constant.

Production of steel emitted approximately 2.9 Gton CO 2 in 2014, which is equivalent to

about 7 percent of global emissions. Steel companies follow two main production
processes for steel. The blast furnace-blast oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) process is used to
make over 95 percent of the world’s virgin steel. BF-BOF production is a coal-powered
process by which iron ore is reduced and melted at temperatures around 1,200 °C.

The excess heat made during BF-BOF production allows steelmakers to use up to 20 to
30 percent scrap steel as a feedstock, which increases steel output without a
corresponding increase in the use of coal. The second steelmaking process is employed to
produce recycled steel and the remaining fraction of virgin steel. In this process, electric
arc furnaces (EAF) are either fed with scrap steel to make recycled steel or fed with
direct-reduced iron (DRI) to produce virgin steel. In an integrated steel plant, steel is
processed further (e.g., rolling, coating) to make goods such as steel rolls that are used in
manufacturing final products. The carbon used can be reduced by using charcoal instead
of coal; biogas or hydrogen instead of natural gas, or through zero carbon electricity in
EAF.

To reach the reduction targets set by the Paris Agreement the industry needed to lower its
emissions. Such reduction needed to happen in energy-intensive production processes
like cement and steel companies. This can be done by using alternatives to hydrocarbon
fuels, using electricity to produce heat, use biomass or hydrogen as feedstock or fuel and
by capturing carbon.
 CO2 accounted for 90% of Greenhouse gases, and half of CO2 was emitted from four
commodities – cement, steel, ethylene and ammonia. 45% of the emissions in these
industries was from feedstocks, and changing fuels would not address this. 35%
emissions were due to burning fossil fuels to generate heat. Going for alternative fuels
calls for change in the furnaces. And any change in the furnace design and use, would
call for change in several other processes down and upstream. Changing to new methods
of production was also highly expensive.

One of the main reasons for high carbon usage was use of coal as a major fuel (for melting iron)
and feedstock (use of coke) in steel industry. Coal accounted for 26% of energy consumption in
iron and steel industry. At the same time there were large regional differences. In china coal was
the main fuel, while in the European Union and the USA other sources like electricity was
prevalent.

Complete reduction of CO2 emissions was not possible, as in steel industry feedstock also
consisted of lot of carbon. And the high temperature required by these sectors could be given
only by carbon based fuels. To replace these fuels with electricity or hydrogen needs change in
the production processes. The steel production sites have a lifetime of more than fifty years. Any
change in the production systems was capital intensive and was not economical for the
companies. Using hydrogen or any other alternative fuel in steelmaking would require a nearly
complete overhaul of the steel production process at existing facilities. Hence, hydrogen-based
steel production processes will generally be more economical for regions where new facilities
are being built.

Steel was traded globally, and in case the companies adopt carbon neutral production systems,
their cost would increase and they can no longer compete with companies from developing
countries like China, which use highly carbon intensive systems, to achieve low prices.
EU countries have introduced stringent environmental protection regulations and emission
standards by increasing cost of carbon emission in various industries.

Process efficiencies through HIsarna

HIsarna was developed by Tata Steel in Ijmuiden, Netherlands. It was expected to allow
production with atleast 20% lower CO2 emissions. The technology could significantly improve
steel production sustainability.

As a substitute to blast furnace process, HIsarna made the preprocessing of iron ore and
metallurgical coal obsolete. In this process the materials were injected as powders and were
converted into liquid iron. On further development to Industrial scale, HIsarna could reduce the
carbon footprint by 20%. With the use of carbon capture and storage technologies the carbon
footprint was expected to be 80% lower

 CCF and SRV is a win-win combination of technologies.

 The heat to reduce and melt the iron ore was produced through oxygen
 HIsarna technology eliminated the process of converting iron ore into sinter or pellet and
converting coking coal into coke.
 HIsarna could use raw materials of low quality
 The carbon monoxide that was formed in SLV was used to create hot gases that were
used to provide heat for the reaction occurring in CCF.
 It was 30% more energy efficient and 25% less CO 2 intensive
 The CO2 produced was pure and it could be captured, stored and used. This could lead to
further reduction in CO2 emissions, and 80% reduction in carbon footprint.
 It could significantly improve steel production sustainability performance.
 HIsarna is a revolutionary breakthrough technology. Its impact may be compared to the
introduction of contiuous casting in the 20th Century, which has made the process steps
of ingot casting and rolling redundant.
 It used nitrogen as carrier gas to dissolve carbon into hot metal.
 HIsarna did not require energy-intensive and heavily-polluting processers.
 Its carbon collection was highly efficient.
 It could use biomass or natural gas instead of coal and reduced CO2 emissions.
 The investments and operating costs were also lower due to wide range of feedstocks
available
 Looking at economic aspects, HIsarna will require significantly lower capital investment
costs and will produce semi-finished products with the same quality as current
breakthrough technology at significantly lower operational costs
 2) What is a Circular Economy? Examine how HIsarna helped Tata Steel deliver its
ambition
ion for low carbon and circular economy.

Circular Economy

According to European Union, “ In a circular economy, products and the materials they contain
are valued highly, unlike in the traditional, linear economic model, based on a ‘take-make-
consume-throw away’ pattern. In practice, a circular economy implies reducing waste to a
minimum as well as re-using,
using, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and
products. What used to be considered as ‘waste’ can be turned into a valuable resource.

Moving
oving towards a more circular economy could deliver benefits, among which reduced
pressures on the environment, enhanced security of supply of raw materials, increased
competitiveness, innovation, and growth and jobs. However, it would also face challenges,
challenges
among which finance, key economic enablers, skills, consumer behaviour and business models,
and multi-level governance.”

The circular economy refers to a move from linear business models, in which products are
manufactured from raw materials, used and th then
en discarded, to circular business models where
products or parts are repaired, re--used, returned and recycled. (Refer
Refer to TN Figure I)

TN Figure I

This concept is fundamental to the triple bottom line concept of sustainability, which focuses on
the interplay
play between environmental, social and economic factors.
The Circular Economy is based on waste prevention and re-use, repair and recycling of products
and superior products design for long life. It implies that resources are brought back into the
supply chain after the end life of the product.

The characteristics of a circular economy are:

 The products and materials are used for as long as possible

 Waste and resource use are minimized
 Resources are kept within the cycle when a product has reached the end of its
life, to be used over and over again

When steel industry was taken into consideration, it had advantages in terms of - reduce, reuse,
remanufacture and recycle. (Refer to TN Figure II for Steel in Circular Economy)

TN Figure II

Recycle: Steel can be recycled endlessly with no detrimental effect on its properties. The
magnetic properties in steel allow it to be separated from waste streams. Steel has been recycled
ever since it was first made. All available steel scrap is recycled, over and over again to create
new steel products in a closed material loop. Recycled steel maintains the inherent properties of
the original steel. These properties can be modified during the steelmaking process or through
mechanical processes to create the many thousands of advanced and commodity steel grades
available. The quality of the steel product can also be improved on recycling.

The European Environment Agency (EAA) used steel as the example of resource efficiency in its
2015 report, “The European environment — state and outlook 2015.” It’s easy to see why they
would single out steel here, when you compare its recycling rate of 87% to those of aluminum
(67%), concrete (20%) and timber (13%).”
Reduce: Over the years the energy used for producing steel had reduced considerably.
According to the Worldsteel Association, “the efficient use and recovery of energy has enabled
steelmakers to reduce the energy required to produce a tonne of steel by 60% since 1960.”
Efficient processes use less raw material, and help in reducing CO 2 emissions.”

Though the global steel production had increased fivefold since 1960, the energy consumption
had reduced by 60% and the steel industry was looking at reducing it further.

The consumption of steel in the world was more than the scrap it generated. The availability was
expected to reduce significantly by 2050. This meant that the industry needed to rely on blast
furnaces unless a breakthrough technology is invented.

Reuse: Steel’s durability enables many products to be reused at the end of their life. As well as
extending the product’s life cycle, reuse avoids the need to transport and re-melt the steel, and to
create new products. This has significant advantages for the environment and maximises the use
of resources.

In a fully circular economy, the reuse of a manufactured product is considered in the earliest
design phases of its creation. This allows both small- and large-scale products to be repurposed
for another use quickly and efficiently once their initial use is fulfilled.

Steel by-products are also put into use to create products so as to minimize the waste that was
sent to landfills. Slag was used to make cement and fertilizers. Process gases were used to
replace steam and electricity.

Remanufacture : In a truly circular economy, products which stop working are restored to as-
new condition in a process known as remanufacturing. Remanufacture involves the disassembly
of a product, during which each component is thoroughly cleaned, examined for damage, and
either reconditioned to original specifications or replaced with a new or upgraded part. The
product is then reassembled and tested to ensure proper operation. The goal is to create an
application which can be offered with a guarantee that is equivalent or better than that of the
original product. differs from repairing, which is a process limited to making the product
operational as opposed to thoroughly restoring it.

Many steel products such as construction and farm machinery, truck and car engines, electrical
motors, domestic appliances, and wind turbines are already remanufactured. Remanufacturing
takes advantage of the durability of steel components.

Steel in a Circular economy

 Avoids 60% of the energy requirements

 Avoids 75% of the CO2 emissions
  Lower demand on raw materials
 Reduces the need for waste disposal
 Can make the same quality products
 Steel can be recycled over and over again
 Durable steel products can last for decades and centuries
 Recycling of steel is a well established practice
 More than 22 billion tons of steel scrap have been recycled

(Refer to TN Exhibit III for Steelmaking by-products)

TN Exhibit III

The steel industry has been a pillar industry in the economic development and played a major
role in industrial and economic development. The material was highly recyclable, and was the
most recycled industrial product. The main drawback of this industry was its high requirement of
capital, energy intensive production processes and high emissions. Though over the last few
decades the emissions have been reduced, they still accounted for 6.7% of all the CO 2 emissions
in the world and consumed 6% of the energy produced globally. One ton of steel production
consumed 3.54 GJ of energy and emitted 1.8 tons of CO 2. In the changing scenario of
environmental protection policies, steel industry came under heat for its energy consumption and
emissions.

With the release of the EU “Climate and Energy Policy Objectives of 2030”, EU countries have
introduced more stringent environmental protection regulations and emission standards. In this
direction ULCOS was formed in 2004, to develop new new low-carbon steelmaking technology
that can reduce CO2 emissions per ton of steel by 50% from its existing level. by the year 2050.
The main members of the ULCOS program are from 15 European countries, involving steel, gas,
equipment manufacturing, metallurgical engineering, research institutes and universities. The
board is chaired by ArcelorMittal, and the members of the board of directors include Tata Steel.
ThyssenKrupp Group, VAI, Swedish Steel and LKAB.

The first phase (ULCOS I, 2004-2010) is the theoretical research and pilot-test phase, and the
second phase (ULCOS II, 2010-2015) is the in-depth development phase for the preparation of
industrialized application of the technical solution,

New Smelting Reduction Process (HIsarna)

 HIsarna is a highly merging of Cyclone Converter Furnace (CCF) of Tata Steel and
HIsmelt Smelt Reduction Vessel (SRV) from Rio Tinto. HIsarna, a new technology
for producing steel consisted for a reactor, on top of which iron ore was injected.
 The ore is liquefied at high temperature cyclone and dripped to the bottom of the
reactor. There coal was injected, and the powder coal reacted with the molten ore to
produce liquid iron, that was the base material used to produce high-quality steel.
Concentrated CO2 was emitted from the reactor.
 The technology helped in removing several pre-processing steps, and the quality of
raw materials required was flexible, compared to traditional steel production systems.
This resulted in several gains – reduction energy use; reduction of CO2 emissions by
20%, decrease in the emission of fine particles like sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen
dioxide by 60-80%
 The CO2 that was emitted was highly concentrated, and was suited for carbon capture
for either storage or use. It also removed the expensive gas separation stage. In case
CO2 was captured, the emissions reduced by 80% .
 The HIsarna technology is expected to play an important role in meetingthe recycling
ambitions of the circular economy. The primary steel making could be combined with
recycling of upto 50% steel scrap, which was twice the existing theoretical maximum
of Blast Furnace.
 HIsarna also allowed recovery of zinc from coated steel scrap
Advantages of HIsarna
 The production process was more efficient than any of the existing high-energy
consuming processes. The ores need not be pre-processed and the use of metallurgical
 coal could be done away with, thus phasing out an entire production stage of coking
plants, sinter plants and pellet plants. The energy thus saved could be put to other use.
 HIsarna enabled the use of wide range of ore and coal qualities. Thus the steel
companies will be able to produce high quality steel, irrespective of the quality of raw
material. Biomass natural gas and/or hydrogen may be used as alternatives to coal
which helped in energy efficient production systems.
 The most important benefit was in terms of the environment. The energy use was
reduced and the emissions of CO2 reduced by 20%. HIsarna produced almost 100%
pure CO2, which was ideally suited for capture and storage, eliminating the refining
process
 Several steel production by-products could be reused from HIsarna could be reused,
which helped in closing the loop of industrial manufacturing process.
 The emission of fine particles, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide was also be reduced

3) Examine the sustainability challenges that the European steel industry faced? How did
it find solution in HIsarna technology? List down the steps in the development of the
new sustainable steelmaking process.

The iron and steel industry is the largest source of CO2 emissions as the production
process was energy intensive. It relied heavily on carbon-based fuels, leading to high
emissions. As the steel consumption was all set to double by 2050, the EU commission
was looking at reducing the emissions by half.

The iron making in integrated steel plants accosted for 85% of CO2 emissions. Steel
production required iron, scrap, and lime. Iron ore was smelted to produce impure metal
or hot metal. Then coke and heat are used to remove oxygen from the metal ore. In this
process CO and CO2 were produced. Reducing the CO2 emissions by 50% called for
sweeping changes in operations of the iron making process. This could be done only
through capturing CO2, but the process was highly expensive. At the same time the
European Union was pressurizing the steel industry to cut emissions, ensure efficient use
of energy and reduce the impact on the environment.

This led to the formation of consortium ULCOS, with steel manufacturers, universities
and research organizations. The consortium decided on HIsarna technology for
sustainable production of steel. The project was executed by India-based Tata Steel’s
European subsidiary at its plant in the Netherlands. The technology was a combination of
two existing technologies one from Tata Steel and the other from Rio Tinto.

HIsarna process is a smelting reduction process for producing liquid iron directly from
iron ore fines (IOF) and coal. It represents a new, potentially more efficient way of
making iron. It eliminates prior processing of raw materials as needed by the blast
furnace process. The process consists of pre-reduction of iron ore in cyclone converter
furnace (CCF) of Tata Steel’s Isarna technology and bath smelting of iron in smelting
reduction vessel (SRV) of Rio Tinto’s HIsmelt process.

During the period 2005-2007, cyclone technology was selected as one of the four high-
potential technologies. A theoretical answer was found to the earlier problems of the post
cyclone part of the cyclone furnace and ULCOS brought into the project the HIsmelt
technology by an agreement with Rio Tinto so as to have a win-win technology
combination. This led to an ULCOS supported pilot plant project in Europe. This
combination of two technologies resulted into HIsarna process.

HIsarna process is carried out in a smelting vessel which is a combination of CCF and
SRV. The process basically involves two stage counter current contact between IOF and
the process gas. In both stages the operating temperature is above melting temperature. In
stage 1, molten partly reduced ore is produced which runs downwards from the CCF into
the SRV. The two stages are highly integrated in physical sense and both the process
stages are carried out in a single smelting vessel.

HIsarna process consists of a reactor in which IOF is injected at the top. The ore is
liquefied in a high-temperature cyclone and drips to the bottom of the reactor where
powder coal is injected. The powder coal reacts with the molten ore to produce liquid
iron which is the base material to produce high quality steel. The gases that leave the
HIsarna reactor are concentrated CO2.

The development of this technology took several years and was done in several stages,
called campaigns, by a teams from ULCOS, Tata Steel and the European Commission

The Campaigns

 Pilot plant was started during April 2011 and was operated from 18 April to 11
June 2011 in its first campaign. There were four starts up. The first start up was
not successful. The other three were successful. First successful tap of liquid iron
was done on 20 May 2011. Available data from the operation has shown that the
process operated as expected but more operating hours are needed to confirm this.
Numbers of operating hours were below expectation. However, the objective of
showing that theory works in practice, i.e. producing liquid iron without
preprocessing of raw materials was achieved.
 Second campaign has run from 17 October to 4 December 2012. The objective of
producing liquid iron for a longer, sustained period was achieved. Production at
80% of design capacity was achieved for periods of 8 to 12 hours. In the last run,
full design capacity of 8 tph was reached.

 The third campaign has run from 28 May to 28 June 2013. The objective of
producing liquid iron for sustained periods and running tests with various kinds of
raw materials was achieved. For the first time, steel was made from HIsarna
liquid iron.

 The fourth campaign has run from 13 May to 29 June 2014. The objective of
sustained, stable production during several days on end and tests of various kinds
of raw materials was achieved.

 The fifth campaign took place in 2017. In preparation for this campaign, the
installation has seen a significant overhaul. A completely new off-gas duct has
been installed. Next to the pilot plant, a complete coal grinding and a drying and
screening facility for ore and lime have been constructed. Closed conveyor belts
have been installed to transport the raw materials from the storage facility to the
installation injection points. The raw materials storage capacity has been doubled
and a gas analysis laboratory has been added. The electronic monitoring system
has been completely reprogrammed.

 The sixth phase was the final phase, during which steel scrap and biomass were
used and CO2 reduction of more than 50% was achieved
Readings and References

Presentations

1. Jan van der Stel, Koen Meijer, Stanley Santos, Tim Peeters, “Hisarna, An Opportunity for Reducing
CO2 Emissions from Steel Industry,” CATO Meets the Projects, November 15, 2017
2. Dr. Wim van der Meer, HIsarna – Low CO2 Ironmaking Opportunity, Tata Steel, March 16, 2017
3. Innovative ironmaking technology for a - low Carbon - and - Resource Efficient - future of the
European Steel Sector, https://ec.europa.eu, May 20, 2015
4. Tim Peters, “HIsarna, a Revolution in Steelmaking,” CEPS Meeting, Brussels, June 21, 2013
5. Koen Meijer, Christiaan Zeilstra, “Development of the HIsarna Process, Alternative Ironmaking
Technology with CO2 Capture Potential, Industry CCS Workshop, VDEh, Düsseldorf, November 8-
9, 2011
6. Hisarna: Game Changer in the Steel Industry, www.tatasteel.nl

Articles

1. Tata Steel celebrates its 100 years in the Netherlands , www.democratic accent.com, September 20,
2018
2. Tata Steel Announces New Technology that Could Halve Emissions from Steel Production,
www.steelvia.com, September 11, 2018
3. Tata Steel reveals HIsarna technology to tackle environmental concerns in the steel industry,
https://commodityinside.com, September 10, 2018
4. Tata Steel unveils technology that could halve emissions from steel production, www.edie.net,
September 07, 2018
5. Tata Steel’s HIsarna technology exceeds expectations in sustainable steel production, Steel News,
September 07, 2018
6. Tata Steel unveils sustainable steel production technology in Europe, economictimes.indiatimes.com,
September 06, 2018
7. Ramon Burns, HIsarna process for ironmaking, www.steel-360.com, April 20, 2018
8. Tata Steel Limited named among 2017 Steel Sustainability Champions, www.tatasteel.com, April 11,
2018
9. Tata Steel strengthens position in low-carbon future technology, www.tatasteeleurope.com October
11, 2017
10. Martin Grolms Tata Steel announce major solar project, www.advancedsciencenews.com, December
21, 2015
11. Lucy Dixon, Tata Steel Announces Carbon Reduction Project, www.manufacturingglobal.com,
November 02, 2015
12. Bhavani Balakrishna, “HIsarna: Potential ‘Game-Changer’ of the Steel Industry, The Masterbuilder,
April 2015
13. B.Balakrishna: HISARNA: Potential Game-Changer of the Steel Industry, The Masterbuilder, April
2014
14. T.Peeters: HIsarna, a Revolution in steelmaking, TATA Steel, February 25, 2013
15. Arindam Sinha,HIsarna holds big hope for green, low-cost iron making: Tata Steel,
www.indianexpress.com, November 23, 2012
16. Second ULCOS HIsarna campaign begins at Tata Steel in Ijmuiden, www.tata.com, October 04, 2012
17. Tata Steel and Rio Tinto sign agreement on HIsarna , www.tatasteel.com, April 20, 2011
18. Annual Reports, Tata Steel.
19. www.tatasteel.com
20. www.tatasteel.eu
21. https://ec.europa.eu