IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v320y2025ics0360544225008199.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Carbon reduction cost of hydrogen steelmaking technology in China

Author

Listed:
  • Ren, Lei
  • Shi, Hong
  • Yang, Yifang
  • Liu, Jianzhe
  • Ou, Xunmin

Abstract

Hydrogen energy is a key deep de-carbonization technology option for steel production. This study aims to provide a reference for the selection of technological routes by conducting a fair comparison with the evaluation of other deep de-carbonization technologies, such as scrap-based electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking, under the same research framework. This study updates the direct/indirect GHG emissions and steelmaking costs of blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF), scrap-based EAF, fossil fuel-based direct reduced iron (DRI), hydrogen steelmaking, and CCS technologies in China. Using the H-DR (part) process can only achieve a 43.4 % reduction compared to BF-BOF, while the H-DR (full) process results in GHG emissions comparable to scrap-EAF. The study also discusses the unit abatement costs of hydrogen steelmaking technology compared to other emission reduction technologies. The cost of H-DR (full) is 6186 RMB/tcs, which is twice that of BF-BOF and 1.3 times that of scrap-EAF. The main conclusions are that green hydrogen steelmaking is expected to achieve near-zero emissions and can complement scrap-based EAF. The abatement costs of pure hydrogen steelmaking are relatively high, but by using partial hydrogen or by-product hydrogen, the abatement costs can be reduced to the level of scrap-based EAF.

Suggested Citation

  • Ren, Lei & Shi, Hong & Yang, Yifang & Liu, Jianzhe & Ou, Xunmin, 2025. "Carbon reduction cost of hydrogen steelmaking technology in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:320:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225008199
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.135177
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225008199
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2025.135177?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Li, Xin & Ou, Xunmin & Zhang, Xu & Zhang, Qian & Zhang, Xiliang, 2013. "Life-cycle fossil energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission intensity of dominant secondary energy pathways of China in 2010," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 15-23.
    2. Abhinav Bhaskar & Mohsen Assadi & Homam Nikpey Somehsaraei, 2020. "Decarbonization of the Iron and Steel Industry with Direct Reduction of Iron Ore with Green Hydrogen," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-23, February.
    3. Ou, Xunmin & Zhang, Xiliang & Chang, Shiyan, 2010. "Alternative fuel buses currently in use in China: Life-cycle fossil energy use, GHG emissions and policy recommendations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 406-418, January.
    4. Ren, Lei & Zhou, Sheng & Ou, Xunmin, 2023. "The carbon reduction potential of hydrogen in the low carbon transition of the iron and steel industry: The case of China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    5. Yuhua Guo & Junmao Qie & Chunxia Zhang & Yuantao Yang, 2021. "Material flow analysis of zinc during the manufacturing process in integrated steel mills in China," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(4), pages 1009-1020, August.
    6. Ou, Xunmin & Yan, Xiaoyu & Zhang, Xiliang & Liu, Zhen, 2012. "Life-cycle analysis on energy consumption and GHG emission intensities of alternative vehicle fuels in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 218-224.
    7. Ou, Xunmin & Xiaoyu, Yan & Zhang, Xiliang, 2011. "Life-cycle energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions for electricity generation and supply in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 289-297, January.
    8. Yi-Ming Wei & Jia-Ning Kang & Lan-Cui Liu & Qi Li & Peng-Tao Wang & Juan-Juan Hou & Qiao-Mei Liang & Hua Liao & Shi-Feng Huang & Biying Yu, 2021. "A proposed global layout of carbon capture and storage in line with a 2 °C climate target," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 11(2), pages 112-118, February.
    9. Ren, Lei & Zhou, Sheng & Ou, Xunmin, 2020. "Life-cycle energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions of hydrogen supply chains for fuel-cell vehicles in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    10. Ren, Lei & Zhou, Sheng & Peng, Tianduo & Ou, Xunmin, 2021. "A review of CO2 emissions reduction technologies and low-carbon development in the iron and steel industry focusing on China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ren, Lei & Zhou, Sheng & Ou, Xunmin, 2023. "The carbon reduction potential of hydrogen in the low carbon transition of the iron and steel industry: The case of China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    2. Ren, Lei & Zhou, Sheng & Peng, Tianduo & Ou, Xunmin, 2022. "Greenhouse gas life cycle analysis of China's fuel cell medium- and heavy-duty trucks under segmented usage scenarios and vehicle types," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    3. Zhang, Zhiqing & Zhong, Weihuang & Mao, Chengfang & Xu, Yuejiang & Lu, Kai & Ye, Yanshuai & Guan, Wei & Pan, Mingzhang & Tan, Dongli, 2024. "Multi-objective optimization of Fe-based SCR catalyst on the NOx conversion efficiency for a diesel engine based on FGRA-ANN/RF," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    4. Zhang, Zhiqing & Hu, Jingyi & Yang, Dayong & Yin, Zibin & Lu, Kai & Tan, Dongli, 2024. "A comprehensive assessment over the environmental impact and combustion efficiency of using ammonia/ hydrogen/diesel blends in a diesel engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    5. Tan, Dongli & Li, Dongmei & Wang, Su & Zhang, Zhiqing & Tian, Jie & Li, Jiangtao & Lv, Junshuai & Zheng, Wenling & Ye, Yanshuai, 2023. "Evaluation and optimization of hydrogen addition on the performance and emission for biodiesel dual-fuel engines with different blend ratios based on the response surface method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    6. Zhang, Zhiqing & Wang, Su & Pan, Mingzhang & Lv, Junshuai & Lu, Kai & Ye, Yanshuai & Tan, Dongli, 2024. "Utilization of hydrogen-diesel blends for the improvements of a dual-fuel engine based on the improved Taguchi methodology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    7. Zhang, Zhiqing & Li, Dongmei & Lan, Guanglin & Yin, Zibin & Pan, Mingzhang & Jiang, Feng & Li, Junming & Tan, Dongli, 2024. "Development and evaluation of mechanistic model for standard SCR, fast SCR, and NO2 SCR of NH3-SCR over Cu-ZSM-5," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    8. Zhang, Zhiqing & Liu, Hui & Yang, Dayong & Li, Junming & Lu, Kai & Ye, Yanshuai & Tan, Dongli, 2024. "Performance enhancements of power density and exergy efficiency for high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell based on RSM-NSGA III," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    9. Ren, Lei & Zhou, Sheng & Peng, Tianduo & Ou, Xunmin, 2021. "A review of CO2 emissions reduction technologies and low-carbon development in the iron and steel industry focusing on China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    10. Zhang, Zhiqing & Hu, Jingyi & Tan, Dongli & Li, Junming & Jiang, Feng & Yao, Xiaoxue & Yang, Dixin & Ye, Yanshuai & Zhao, Ziheng & Yang, Guanhua, 2023. "Multi-objective optimization of the three-way catalytic converter on the combustion and emission characteristics for a gasoline engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    11. Guan, Wei & Gu, Jinkai & Pan, Xiubin & Pan, Mingzhang & Wang, Xinyan & Zhao, Hua & Tan, Dongli & Fu, Changcheng & Pedrozo, Vinícius B. & Zhang, Zhiqing, 2024. "Improvement of the light-load combustion control strategy for a heavy-duty diesel engine fueled with diesel/methonal by RSM-NSGA III," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    12. Ma, Wenyao & Gao, Sheng & Liu, Hui & Li, Dongmei, 2024. "The improvements of a diesel engine fueled with renewable and sustainable diesel/n-butanol/polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers blended fuels at high altitudes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    13. Jia, Guohai & Gao, Sheng & Shu, Xiong & Ren, Bing & Zhang, Bin & Ma, Guangyu & Zhang, Jian & Liu, Hui & Li, Dongmei, 2024. "Multi-objective optimization of emission parameters of a diesel engine using oxygenated fuel and pilot injection strategy based on RSM-NSGA III," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    14. Zhang, Zhiqing & Zhao, Ziheng & Tan, Dongli & Zhang, Bin & Yin, Zibin & Cui, Shuwan & Li, Junming, 2024. "Multi-objective optimization of chemical reaction characteristics of selective catalytic reduction in denitrification of diesel engine using ELM-MOPSO methodology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    15. Pan, Mingzhang & Fu, Changcheng & Cao, Xinxin & Guan, Wei & Liang, Lu & Li, Ding & Gu, Jinkai & Tan, Dongli & Zhang, Zhiqing & Man, Xingjia & Ye, Nianye & Qin, Haifeng, 2024. "An energy management strategy for fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle based on HHO-BiLSTM-TCN-self attention speed prediction," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    16. Ren, Lei & Zhou, Sheng & Ou, Xunmin, 2020. "Life-cycle energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions of hydrogen supply chains for fuel-cell vehicles in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    17. Tan, Dongli & Dong, Rui & Zhang, Zhiqing & Zhang, Bin & Jiang, Feng & Ye, Yanshuai & Li, Dongmei & Liu, Hui, 2024. "Multi-objective impact mechanism on the performance characteristic for a diesel particulate filter by RF-NSGA III-TOPSIS during soot loading," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    18. Tianduo Peng & Sheng Zhou & Zhiyi Yuan & Xunmin Ou, 2017. "Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Analysis of Multiple Vehicle Fuel Pathways in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-24, November.
    19. Yihan Wang & Zongguo Wen & Mao Xu & Christian Doh Dinga, 2025. "Long-term transformation in China’s steel sector for carbon capture and storage technology deployment," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-13, December.
    20. Zhang, Zhiqing & Dong, Rui & Tan, Dongli & Duan, Lin & Jiang, Feng & Yao, Xiaoxue & Yang, Dixin & Hu, Jingyi & Zhang, Jian & Zhong, Weihuang & Zhao, Ziheng, 2023. "Effect of structural parameters on diesel particulate filter trapping performance of heavy-duty diesel engines based on grey correlation analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:320:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225008199. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.