Steel industry targets green growth

Turning the steel industry from “gray” to “green”

To implement the European Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), Vietnamese steel manufacturers have determined to move from producing “gray steel” to “green steel.”

nternational experts share experience about green growth for the steel industry

Chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) Nghiem Xuan Da said that Vietnam currently ranks 13th in the world, and tops ASEAN in terms of production and consumption of finished steel products. The steel industry has made efforts to adopt digital transformation, technological optimization and energy efficiency. For example, some steel mills in Vietnam have started generating electricity from the excess heat from their factories, meeting most of the electricity demand for integrated steel plants.

Hoang Van Tam - Deputy Head of Climate change and Green growth Office (Ministry of Industry and Trade - MoIT), said that currently, enterprises in the sector have made strong transformation towards green production. However, to achieve green growth, steel businesses need to reduce the proportion of coke in steelmaking and switch to using clean energy such as hydrogen, biomass energy, and more.

VSA Chairman Nghiem Xuan Da said that the steel industry is still responsible for seven percent of the country’s total carbon emissions and 46 percent of industrial processes, which is really a huge challenge for the domestic steel industry in the coming time.

A representative from Ton Phuong Nam Company shares opinions about green steel production

Ngo Duc Tuyen - Head of Technology Department at Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel Company - said that the company has used clean coke coal smelting and heat recovery technology to generate electricity for reuse at factories in Hai Duong and Dung Quat. “In addition to taking advantage of all excess heat sources to generate electricity, Hoa Phat is implementing a rooftop solar power program to take advantage of the roof areas of its factories,” Tuyen added.

World experience

Pino Tese - Chief Sales Officer & Managing Director of SMS group in the Region India & Asia Pacific, said that SMS Group has developed green steel production technologies for ten years now, helping reduce more than 80 percent of CO2 emissions compared with the entire current steel production process.

In November 2022, SMS Group signed a contract to build a carbon neutral steel factory for a startup in Boden (Sweden). SMS provides the entire digitized production line from the steelworks to the cold rolling mill lines. Phase 1 with an output of 2.5 million tonnes a year which will go into operation in 2025.

Toru Ono from the Japan Iron and Steel Federation - JISF said that many Best Available Techniques (BATs) have been applied in iron and steel industry for improved energy efficiency in the world; thereby, cutting carbon emissions and ensuring energy security. Specifically, factories effectively use the gas recovered from iron and steel processes; recover and effectively use waste energy and waste resources. “In the future, super technologies such as reconstituted hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS) will be developed and installed,” Toru Ono said.