ArcelorMittal completes CO2 reduction project at Spanish Gijon steel plant

ArcelorMittal has completed a project at its steel plant in Gijon, northwest Spain to inject coking gases into its B furnace, which will allow the steel plant to reduce its CO2 emissions and reduce costs, the company’s Spanish subsidiary said Feb. 5.

The new unit will save 125,000 mt/year of CO2 emissions and also reduce the amount of coke that is consumed.

By injecting coking gases, with a high hydrogen content, the carbon content can be significantly reduced, it said. The coking gas is effectively recycled from its own coking batteries into the furnace.

In the next few weeks the same method will be used to supply the furnaces for its semi-finished products such as the thick sheet and rail mills, enabling them to reduce their natural gas consumption and CO2 generation.

Arcelor Mittal operates two furnaces at Gijon with a combined capacity of 5 million mt/year, which are integrated with the sheet steel production site at Aviles and the coking batteries.

The company is targeting a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions across its European operations by 2030 and to be net carbon neutral by 2050.

The company is also working on using hydrogen to directly reduce iron ore feed into its furnaces, it said.

— Gianluca Baratti