Japanese steel producer Kobe Steel (Kobelco) is planning to co-fire ammonia at its 1,400MW coal-fired power plant in Kobe, aiming for a complete shift to the fuel as part of its strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Kobelco today unveiled a plan to achieve a 30-40pc reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from its manufacturing activity by 2030 compared with 2013 levels before decarbonising its operations by 2050.
The company plans to strengthen CO2 reduction efforts at its power plants in Hyogo prefecture's Kobe and Ibaraki prefecture's Mooka. It is targeting to start co-firing ammonia at its coal-fired power plant in Kobe sometime after 2030, subject to verification and commercialisation of cost-competitive, large-scale ammonia co-firing technology. A complete fuel shift to ammonia is planned before 2050 following a gradual increase in the co-firing rate.
Japan's power industry is expected to start co-firing ammonia at a 20pc rate as early as in 2025. Joint-venture utility Jera is testing ammonia co-firing at its 1,000MW coal-fired power generation units at Hekinan.
Kobelco is operating two 700MW coal-fired power generation units and developing two more 650MW units for a 2021-22 start-up at the Kobe power plant. The company said it will also consider coal-firing biomass fuel, such as sewage sludge and food waste, at Kobe.
The steel producer is considering utilising carbon-neutral city gas, produced from imported carbon-neutral LNG, as a feedstock at its two 624MW combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power generation units at Mooka. Japanese gas firm Tokyo Gas supplies city gas to the CCGT units.
The company also plans to utilise technologies of its US subsidiary Midrex Technologies in reduction of CO2 emissions from blast furnace (BF) operations. Kobelco late last year completed a demonstration test at its Kakogawa works that proved the use of hot-briquetted iron produced in the Midrex process in BF operations cuts consumption of reducing agents, or carbon fuels, curbing CO2 emissions by around 20pc compared with a conventional method.
Kobelco is also targeting to continue exploiting various technologies, including expansion of scrap use and use of artificial intelligence for CO2 reduction. The company added it will consider adding an electric arc furnace (EAF) for production of high-end steel materials to cut CO2 emissions.
Japan's steel industry is striving to reduce CO2 emissions. The country's largest producer Nippon Steel is also considering developing a large-scale EAF as part of efforts to achieve its 2050 decarbonisation goal.
