The State Duma discussed the idea of a partial transition of domestic metallurgy to charcoal

On February 14, a meeting was held at the State Duma Committee on Ecology, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection. The Russian Timber Association was represented by its first vice-president Andrey Goncharov.

During the meeting, representatives of relevant ministries, leading metallurgical companies and science discussed the possibility of using charcoal in the production of steel and cast iron. This solution will allow achieving environmentally friendly production.

Evgeny Markov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ecology, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection: “The global environmental agenda and the trend towards decarbonization of production prove the need to develop a strategy to minimize the risk of technological lag in Russian industry. At the same time, it is necessary to apply the experience of other countries. The leader in the use of charcoal in the world is Brazil. Thanks to the fast-growing eucalyptus, high-quality steel and cast iron are produced there with much less harmful emissions into the atmosphere.”

Russia annually produces approximately 50 million tons of steel from cast iron, for which it uses 30 million tons of coking coal - this is one of the main sources of CO2. Replacing part of the carbon-containing raw materials with biochar will reduce CO2 emissions due to the replacement with carbon-neutral material. This solution will make it possible to contribute to the implementation of green energy programs and environmental initiatives at enterprises.