A newly installed carbon capture unit has begun operating at ArcelorMittal’s steelmaking plant in Gent, Belgium, as part of a one to two year project to test the potential of the technology to reach full-scale deployment.
Launched with partners Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), BHP and Mitsubishi Development Ptd Ltd, the project will capture a ‘sizeable portion’ of emissions at the site.
The pilot follows on from an announcement in October 2022 that the four parties would work together on a multi-year trial of MHI’s carbon capture technology (Advanced KM CDR Process) at multiple carbon dioxide (CO2) emission points.
To be tested initially with blast furnace and reheating furnace gas, the unit could also be used to capture reformer flue gas from a direct reduced iron (DR) plant.
The Gent project could feed into multiple CO2 transport and storage projects being developed in the North Sea region.
Manfred Van Vlierberge, CEO of ArcelorMittal Belgium, said that the company’s decarbonisation efforts can be summed up across three ‘axes’.
“The first axis focuses on energy efficiency: reuse of waste heat and renewable energy. In our second axis, we are replacing coal with a combination of gas and electrification. And finally, the third axis is based on circular use of carbon – CCU and CCS.”
According to the CEO, the company’s main target is to achieve a ‘completely carbon-free process’.
Kenichiro Tauchi, CEO at Mitsubishi Development, called the pilot a ‘significant step towards advancement of carbon capture technology as a potential solution to achieve solid emission reductions in the steel sector.’
Figures from the European Commission suggest that the steel industry is responsible for around 5% of CO2 emissions in the EU and 7% globally.
Having set an objective to achieve an annual CO2 storage capacity of 50 million tonnes by 2030, proposed under the Net Zero Industry Act, the EU has stated that the steel sector needs to develop and commercialise new low-CO2 technologies within the next five to ten years in order to be in line with these targets.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology needs to apply to more than 37% of primary steel production by 2050, equivalent to 399 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of CO2, for the Net Zero Emissions scenario.
The trial at ArcelorMittal’s Gent site will take place in two phases: the first phase focuses on capturing CO2 from blast furnace top gas at a rate of 300kg per day, and the second phase will test CO2 capture from hot strip mill reheating furnace gases.
source: gasworld.com