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Tata Steel on Tuesday commissioned a 5-tonne per day (TPD) carbon capture plant at its Jamshedpur Works, making it the country's first steel company to adopt such a carbon capture technology that extracts CO2 directly from the blast furnace gas.

Tata Steel will reuse the captured CO2 on site to promote circular carbon economy.

This carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) facility uses amine-based technology and makes the captured carbon available for onsite reuse. The depleted CO2 gas is sent back to the gas network with increased calorific value. This project has been executed with technological support from Carbon Clean, a global leader in low-cost CO2 capture technology.

The CCU plant was inaugurated by T.V. Narendran, CEO and MD, Tata Steel, in the presence of company officials and other dignitaries.

"In alignment with the Tata group's pioneering values, we have taken this strategic step in our journey towards decarbonisation. We will continue our quest to remain an industry leader in sustainability by setting new benchmarks for a better tomorrow," Narendran said.

"The operational experience gathered from this 5 TPD CO2 capture plant will give us the required data and confidence to establish larger carbon capture plants in future. As a next step, we aim to establish scaled up facilities of CO2 capture integrated with utilisation avenues," he added.

Aniruddha Sharma, CEO, Carbon Clean, said: "We are delighted to be working with Tata Steel on this breakthrough project. We are currently capturing 5 tonnes of CO2 per day, but following our successful demonstration, we plan to rapidly accelerate the number of carbon capture projects. Capturing CO2 from blast furnace gas will not only decarbonise the steel plants, but will also open avenues for hydrogen economy."

Carbon capture and utilisation is a key lever in the fight against climate change and global warming.

In September 2020, Tata Steel had joined hands with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to work in the field of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), to build a strong ecosystem in the country for meeting the decarbonisation commitments under the Paris Agreement.