JISF members entrusted with technology development project for realizing
zero-carbon steel
Nippon Steel Corporation, JFE Steel Corporation, and Kobe Steel, Ltd., which are
members of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF), and the Japan Research andDevelopment Center for Metals (JRCM), a general incorporated foundation, wereentrusted with a technology development project for realizing zero-carbon steel on June11, 2020. The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization(NEDO), a national research and development agency, had publicly invited applications
for the project.
In connection with the long-term strategy under the Paris Agreement, the JISFestablished and announced its long-term vision for climate change mitigation, called “AChallenge towards Zero-Carbon Steel,” in November 2018, ahead of the establishmentof the Japanese government’s long-term strategy against global warming. In this way,
the JISF has offered a specific direction for achieving the Paris Agreement’s long-termgoals and clarified challenges that need to be taken on to ultimately achieve zero-carbon
steel. In January 2020, this long-term vision of the JISF was adopted as one of thedetailed action plans aimed at establishing innovative technologies to deal with climatechange by 2050 under the Japanese government’s “innovative environmental innovationstrategy.”
For unprecedented research and development with the purpose of realizing zero-carbon
steel, this project aims to extract several prospective innovative technologies that focus
mainly on decarbonization in steel production and to prepare a technology development
roadmap for the steel industry of Japan.
In this manner, the JISF has determined to lead the world in undertaking technology
development for the purpose of realizing zero-carbon steel by bringing forward initialplans under the above-mentioned vision and as a next step following the COURSE 50initiative.
For the background of this project and the details of the JISF’s efforts, please refer toAppendix. Meanwhile, the size of the project is expected to be about 200 million yen,and the implementation period is expected to be about two years (until the end of fiscal2021).

(Appendix)
Background of this project and details of JISF’s efforts
Necessity for innovative technologies that help reduce CO2 emissions in Japan’s
steel industry
On a global scale, the steel industry accounts for a large percentage of carbon dioxide(CO2) emissions (about 9%). To prevent global warming caused by CO2 emissions, it isextremely important to reduce CO2 emissions in the production processes of the steelindustry.
In Japan, the steel industry emits about 180 million tons of CO2 per year (fiscal 2013),
accounting for 14% of total CO2 emissions in Japan (after allocating emissions frompower generation by electric power suppliers). The steel industry is the largest emitterof CO2 among all industries in Japan. On the other hand, Japan’s steel industry has
made thorough efforts to improve energy conservation since the 1970s. As a result,Japan’s energy efficiency in steel production is currently the highest in the world,
according to the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE).
Because of its past efforts for energy conservation, the steel industry of Japan has a low
potential for CO2 emission reduction based on energy conservation. In addition, theprocess of reduction of iron ore with carbon in a blast furnace must emit CO2.
Therefore, innovative technology development is necessary to reduce CO2 emissions
further.
Developing innovative technologies through COURSE 50, etc.
In the steel industry of Japan, for the purpose of reducing CO2 emissions while
maintaining high productivity and energy efficiency, which are the most importantcharacteristics of a blast furnace, blast furnace manufacturers and other companies havesince fiscal 2008 participated in “development of process technologies to reduce ironore with hydrogen, etc.” under the project “Environmentally Harmonized Process
Technology Development,” which has been entrusted by the NEDO. These companies
are endeavoring to develop innovative technologies aimed at reducing CO2 emissions ina blast furnace by 30%. Specifically, they aim to reduce CO2 emissions in a blastfurnace by partially replacing coke, which is a carbon-based reductant, with hydrogengenerated within the steel plant and separating and recovering CO2 generated inside theblast furnace( COURSE 50: CO2 Ultimate Reduction System for Cool Earth 50(COURSE50) Project). Furthermore, as for “development of process technologies to use
ferro-coke” under the same project, technology development is underway to reduce
CO2 emissions in a blast furnace by using ferro-coke. These technologies are being
developed with the goal of achieving practical application by around 2030.
Necessity for developing super-innovative technologies in order to achieve theParis Agreement’s long-term goals
The above-mentioned efforts are, however, insufficient to reduce CO2 emissions in thesteel industry to levels consistent with the Paris Agreement’s long-term goals. Therefore,
it is necessary to develop new steel production technologies that are more innovative
than these technologies. That is, it is necessary to ultimately develop super-innovativetechnologies, such as an iron-making technology that can reduce iron ore with hydrogenalone, which helps achieve zero emission in iron-making processes, and a carbon
recycling technology that can separate and recover CO2 generated in iron-making
processes and use it as a raw material to produce valuable substances (carbon captureand utilization). This project also covers these efforts.
Necessity for developing and implementing technologies for the transitional period
in order to switch to super-innovative processes in the steel industry
On the other hand, even if the steel industry is to switch to new iron-making processes
that enable to achieve zero emission in the future, it is essential to preserve the current
steel production technologies, which are based on traditional blast-furnace methods, astechnologies for the transitional period in order to fulfill steel demand from society.
Therefore, it is necessary to also develop technologies that help reduce CO2 emissions
in the existing production processes. Specifically, it is necessary to consider developing
a technology to increase the use of hydrogen for reduction of iron ore in a blast furnaceon the basis of knowledge acquired through the COURSE 50 initiative or a technology
to use biomass as an alternative to carbon derived from fossil fuels. This project also
covers these efforts.