Tata Steel Commissions India’s First Coke Oven Gas Injection System at Meramandali Blast Furnace

Tata Steel has commissioned India’s first coke oven gas injection system for a blast furnace at its Meramandali steel plant in Odisha, bringing a hydrogen-rich by-product of steelmaking directly into the ironmaking process to reduce the use of conventional fossil reductants.

The project has been implemented at Blast Furnace No. 1 at Tata Steel Meramandali with technology support from Paul Wurth, part of SMS group, and equipment supplied by Kobelco.

The system allows coke oven gas, or COG, to be injected through the blast furnace tuyeres and used as part of the reducing-gas mix required to convert iron ore into hot metal.

The significance lies not in the use of coke oven gas itself — integrated steel plants have long used it for heating and power generation — but in its direct injection into the blast furnace as a reducing fuel.

For Tata Steel, the project is part of a wider effort to lower the carbon intensity of conventional blast-furnace steelmaking while the industry works towards longer-term technologies such as hydrogen-based ironmaking.

Using a By-Product More Effectively

Coke oven gas is generated during the production of metallurgical coke.

It contains substantial quantities of hydrogen, methane and other combustible gases. In an integrated steel plant, it can be reused for heating furnaces, generating power or supporting other process requirements.

At Meramandali, Tata Steel is now taking that utilisation one step further.

By injecting COG directly into the blast furnace, part of the carbon-intensive fuel normally required for iron reduction can be substituted with a gas stream that is already available inside the steel plant.

The approach therefore addresses two issues at once: it improves utilisation of an existing process gas and reduces dependence on additional fossil fuel.

Tata Steel Vice President for Technology and R&D Subodh Pandey said the objective is to maximise the use of internally generated gases and progressively reduce the plant’s reliance on external fossil fuels.

A Three-Fuel Blast Furnace

One of the more interesting features of the new system is that it gives the Meramandali blast furnace greater flexibility in the combination of fuels used during operation.

Tata Steel says the installation enables a three-fuel system, allowing operators to manage coke oven gas alongside other injected fuels used in the blast-furnace process.

That flexibility can be important in large integrated steel plants, where fuel cost, availability, furnace temperature and process stability have to be balanced continuously.

It also gives Tata Steel another route for reducing the amount of conventional carbon-intensive material required to produce each tonne of hot metal.

The company has not publicly disclosed the exact reduction in coke rate or carbon dioxide emissions expected from the project, so those benefits should be assessed once operational data becomes available.

Paul Wurth Technology Selected in 2024

The Meramandali project has been under development for more than two years.

In June 2024, SMS group announced that Tata Steel had selected its Paul Wurth Coke Oven Gas Injection technology for Blast Furnace No. 1 at Meramandali.

At the time, SMS group described the project as the first installation of its kind in India and said it was intended to reduce coke consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

Paul Wurth specialises in blast-furnace technologies and has developed systems that allow alternative reducing gases to be introduced through the tuyere level of the furnace.

The September 2026 commissioning marks the transition of that project from engineering and installation into actual plant operation.

Why Hydrogen in Coke Oven Gas Matters

The hydrogen content of coke oven gas is central to its usefulness in lower-carbon ironmaking.

Traditional blast furnaces depend heavily on carbon monoxide generated from coke and injected coal to remove oxygen from iron ore.

Hydrogen can also act as a reducing agent.

When hydrogen reacts with oxygen in iron oxides, the principal reaction product is water vapour rather than carbon dioxide.

That does not make the entire blast-furnace route carbon-free, because coke remains essential to the conventional process for both reduction and structural support inside the furnace.

However, increasing the share of hydrogen-rich reducing gases can lower the amount of carbon required for each tonne of iron produced.

This is why technologies such as coke oven gas injection are increasingly being examined as transitional measures for existing blast furnaces.

Part of Tata Steel’s Wider Low-Carbon Trials

The Meramandali installation is not Tata Steel’s first attempt to reduce the carbon intensity of blast-furnace operations.

The company has previously conducted trials involving hydrogen injection, coal-bed methane and biochar.

At Jamshedpur, Tata Steel has tested hydrogen-rich gas injection into blast furnaces to study how conventional ironmaking equipment can operate with a higher proportion of hydrogen in the reducing-gas mix.

It has also explored the use of biochar as a partial substitute for fossil carbon.

These technologies address different parts of the same problem: the blast furnace remains one of the most difficult industrial processes to decarbonise because carbon performs both a chemical and physical role inside the furnace.

Replacing that carbon completely requires major changes in steelmaking technology.

In the meantime, improvements to existing blast furnaces can reduce emissions from plants that will continue operating for many years.

Meramandali Is a Major Tata Steel Production Base

The Meramandali plant in Odisha became part of Tata Steel through its acquisition of Bhushan Steel, later renamed Tata Steel BSL and subsequently integrated into Tata Steel.

The site has since become an important part of the company’s eastern India manufacturing network.

The coke oven gas injection project adds a new process capability to the plant while also allowing Tata Steel to test technology that could potentially be adapted for use at other integrated steelmaking sites.

Any wider rollout would depend on operating results, plant configuration and the availability and composition of coke oven gas at individual facilities.

Net-Zero Target Remains 2045

Tata Steel has set a target of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2045.

That goal will require much larger technological changes than coke oven gas injection alone.

The company is studying a range of approaches including alternative reductants, hydrogen, greater scrap use, electric steelmaking, carbon capture and improvements in energy efficiency.

But technologies that can be fitted to existing blast furnaces remain important because conventional blast-furnace/basic-oxygen-furnace production still accounts for a substantial share of Tata Steel’s output.

COG injection therefore fits into what is effectively a two-track strategy: reduce emissions from current assets while preparing for more fundamental changes in iron and steel production.

A Practical Decarbonisation Step

The Meramandali project is notable because it applies an existing industrial gas to a different part of the steelmaking process rather than depending on an entirely new fuel supply chain.

India currently relies heavily on imported metallurgical coal for steel production. Technologies that improve fuel efficiency or partially substitute conventional reductants can therefore carry an economic benefit alongside the emissions advantage.

The project will be more important if Tata Steel can demonstrate stable operation over long periods and quantify reductions in coke consumption and carbon emissions.

For now, its importance is clear enough: an Indian blast furnace is operating with direct coke oven gas injection for the first time, adding another practical tool to the steel industry’s effort to reduce the carbon intensity of one of its most energy-intensive processes.

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References

Tata Steel — September 10, 2026
Official company statement announcing commissioning of the coke oven gas injection system at the Meramandali blast furnace.

SMS group / Paul Wurth — June 2024
Official announcement confirming Tata Steel’s selection of Paul Wurth Coke Oven Gas Injection technology for Blast Furnace No. 1 at Meramandali and identifying it as the first project of its kind in India.

Tata Steel — Integrated Report and Climate Strategy
Official information covering Tata Steel’s Net Zero by 2045 target and its development of low-carbon blast-furnace technologies, including hydrogen, coke oven gas and other alternative reductants.

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