Tata Steel Nederland plans to import zero-emission hydrogen from Norway for use in the steelmaking process and also export captured CO2 to Norway for permanent storage.

The steelmaker has signed an agreement with CO2 and hydrogen transportation firm ECOLOG, along with Norwegian producer Gen2 Energy and the Port of Amsterdam, to explore the import of liquid hydrogen.

The hydrogen is to be produced in Norway from hydropower and then cooled to liquid form and shipped in specialised vessels owned by ECOLOG. It would be imported into the Port of Amsterdam and converted back into a gaseous state before being delivered to Tata Steel and other companies via a planned pipeline network.

A second agreement has been signed by Tata Steel and ECOLOG, along with Horisont Energi, the Port of Amsterdam, OCAP, the Norwegian bank DNB, and ABN AMRO, to explore a corridor for CO2 exports to Norway.

“In the production of steel, even in the new green steel installations, a small amount of CO2 is still emitted. This quantity of CO2 is only a fraction of what is emitted in the production of coal-based steel,” Tata Steel Nederland says in a note sent to Kallanish.

The CO2 will be captured at Tata Steel and other companies in the region. The cold energy released during the conversion of liquid hydrogen to gas at ECOLOG’s Port of Amsterdam terminal will be used to liquefy the CO2 at the same location. In this form, the CO2 can be transported by ship to Horisont Energi’s import terminal in Norway, where it will be permanently stored.