Tata Steel becomes India's first to develop hydrogen transport pipes

Ranchi: Tata Steel on Wednesday claimed that it has become India's first steel company to develop pipes for hydrogen transportation, marking a significant milestone in the country's hydrogen mission.

The pipes, processed at Tata Steel’s Khopoli plant using steel manufactured at its Kalinganagar plant, have successfully met all the critical properties required for hydrogen transportation, the company said in a statement.

The complete technology development, from designing and manufacturing hot-rolled steel to producing the pipes, was done entirely in-house, demonstrating Tata Steel’s ability to deliver critical energy infrastructure.

In 2024, Tata Steel became the first Indian steel company to produce hot-rolled steel for the transportation of gaseous hydrogen.

"The hydrogen qualification tests were carried out at RINA-CSM S.p.A, Italy, a leading approving agency for hydrogen-related testing and characterisation," the statement added.

The new hydrogen-compliant API X65 grade pipes can be used for transportation of 100 per cent pure gaseous hydrogen under high pressure (100 bar), it said.

Prabhat Kumar, vice-president - marketing & sales (flat products), Tata Steel, said, "Tata Steel has always been at the forefront of developing technologies for manufacturing critical steel grades. The successful testing of the new ERW pipes demonstrates our capabilities to deliver critical physical infrastructure for the energy sector, domestically. We are proud to contribute to India's National Hydrogen Mission, which by itself is a key component of the country's ongoing clean energy transition." Kumar added, "Tata Steel is proud to be the first Indian steel company to successfully take on this challenge and deliver products to cater to the emerging domestic and global demand for these special grade steel pipes." The company said its research and development team has extensively developed innovative and sustainable solutions for hydrogen transportation and storage.

The National Hydrogen Mission will enable India to build capabilities to produce at least 5 million metric tonnes (MMT) of Green Hydrogen per annum by 2030, with the potential to reach 10 MMT per annum with additional demand for exports which would require substantial investments in generation and transportation, it added.

The demand for steel compliant with hydrogen transportation is expected to start from 2026-27, with the total steel requirement of 350KT spanning over the next 5 to 7 years. While various mechanisms of hydrogen transportation are available, steel pipelines are considered economically more viable for mass transportation.