The 2025 Net-Zero City Expo took place from March 18 to 21 at the Nangang Exhibition Center in Taipei, drawing significant attention. The event, jointly organized by the National Development Council, featured advanced technologies aimed at achieving net-zero carbon emissions. NSRRC presented its groundbreaking research led by Dr. Shih-Wei Chen from the Industrial Applications Division under the theme: "Purgatory of 1600°C: Advanced Synchrotron Radiation X-ray Technologies See Through the Black Box of Iron-Smelting Blast Furnaces, Illuminating the Bright Road to Zero Carbon Emissions."
Steel production, as a major contributor, accounts for 8.3% of Taiwan's carbon emissions. To reduce emissions, one of the methods is to replace coke with hydrogen as the medium for iron ore reduction in the century-old blast furnace process, a shift that poses many unknowns and challenges.
In response, the NSRRC, in collaboration with National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) and China Steel Corporation (CSC), developed the world's first in-situ high-temperature hydrogen reaction furnace. Capable of rapidly heating to 1600°C, introducing hydrogen, and conducting synchrotron X-ray analysis, this technology enables real-time monitoring of the reduction process and provides vital insights into its efficiency and mechanisms.
This breakthrough helps steel mills optimize the hydrogen reduction process, adjust parameters quickly, and integrate hydrogen into the blast furnace, supporting carbon reduction while maintaining furnace efficiency.