Partnership to capture and reuse CO2 in steel production

ARCELORMITTAL and Sekisui Chemical have entered a partnership to capture CO2 from the steelmaking process.

The CO2 will be captured from the waste gas produced during steel production. It will then be converted into carbon monoxide-rich syngas using Sekisui’s proprietary process. The technology converts CO2 into CO at high yield compared to conventional methods, and the partnership will allow Sekisui to demonstrate the ability to scale up the new process. The syngas can then be used as an alternative reduction agent to iron ore to produce new steel.

Pinakin Chaubal, Chief Technology Officer at ArcelorMittal, said: “This is an exciting albeit early-stage technology which complements our existing carbon capture and re-use or storage technology (CCUS) initiatives. Successfully decarbonising steelmaking will involve multiple technologies and we expect CCUS technologies to have an important role to play.”

Katsunori Mukai, Director of Corporate R&D at Sekisui said: “Sekisui Chemical has been developing basic technologies for sustainable societies. One of them is focused on giving l ‘life to CO2’ by enabling carbon recycling in manufacturing industries. In this inter-industry partnership with ArcelorMittal, we are aiming to help reduce the carbon emissions of the steel industry.”

The trial will start in the third quarter of 2021 at one of ArcelorMittal’s R&D labs in Asturias, Spain, and is expected to take place over three years. The investment cost of the project is US$1.9m.