JSW Steel to set up new scrap processing plant in Chennai

JSW Steel Joint Managing Director and CEO Jayant Acharya stated that the Chennai facility is planned to supply scrap to the Vijayanagar plant in Karnataka and the Kadappa plant in Andhra Pradesh. The new plant will follow a similar metal recycling facility built by JSW Steel’s subsidiary NSL Green Steel Recycling in Raigad, Maharashtra.

The company had previously announced a 1.75 billion rupee investment in 2022 to establish a metal recycling facility in Maharashtra through a joint venture with New Zealand-based National Steel Holdings. This facility is located just 4 km from JSW Steel’s 10 million ton/year integrated steel plant in Dolvi.

Acharya emphasized that JSW Steel intends to replicate the scrap supply chain it has developed in Western India in Southern India as well. He stated that approximately 2.25 million tons of scrap were sourced from the Western region in the previous fiscal year. With the new Chennai facility, the company also plans to process different types of scrap that require treatment before use.

As part of its carbon reduction vision, JSW Steel aims to minimize carbon emissions by increasing the use of steel scrap. Accordingly, the recycling facilities will supply baled or packaged scrap to JSW’s production plants.

Additionally, JSW Steel has started green hydrogen production in Vijayanagar, Karnataka. The pilot project, with an annual capacity of 3,800 tons, will transport hydrogen to the steel plant via pipeline. Conducted jointly with JSW Energy, the project uses 25 MW of renewable energy and aims to produce low-carbon steel in the direct reduced iron (DRI) unit using green hydrogen.

Acharya stated that the company has begun producing certified low-carbon green steel under the “Green Edge” brand, emphasizing, “International organizations verify the reduction in carbon emissions, and these certificates can be provided to customers.”

With these developments, JSW Steel has taken two significant steps toward sustainable steel production through both scrap recycling and green hydrogen production.