ArcelorMittal and partners Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., BHP and Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd. have completed the first phase of a carbon capture trial at the steelmaker’s integrated Ghent plant in Belgium, supporting further assessment of commercial-scale deployment, the partners said in a joint statement Oct. 28
The trial is relevant for the wider steel market because blast furnace-based production accounts for around 70% of global steel output and is expected to remain significant for decades. In Ghent, the company has two blast furnaces, with a capacity of around 5 million metric tons per year of crude steel.
According to the statement, the trial demonstrated CO₂ capture, at pilot scale, at rates exceeding 90%, and provided operational and engineering data to support the assessment of the potential for future full-scale application of the carbon capture technology at the Ghent blast furnace.
Engineering assessments based on the results indicate that full-scale application to the blast furnace’s pre-combustion off-gas could lower the Ghent facility’s overall CO₂ intensity by up to 24%, the companies said. If the technology is applied across multiple emission points in the steelmaking plant, the approach could support progress toward near-zero emissions intensity, they added.
“The results of this trial are very promising and demonstrate the abatement potential of the blast furnace and integrated steelmaking route,” according to BHP Vice President Marketing Sustainability Ben Ellis. “Through this partnership, we have tested a pathway to meaningful emissions reductions in the near term, and a potential lever for near-zero emissions blast furnace steelmaking longer term.”
In phase one, the trial separated CO₂ only, with the remaining carbon monoxide potentially continuing to be used for power and heat generation at the site, although its subsequent combustion releases additional CO₂, the companies said.
The partners will now move to phase two, applying the capture process to post-combustion gases from Ghent’s hot strip mill reheating furnace. That furnace uses a variable blend of coke oven gas, blast furnace gas, basic oxygen furnace gas and natural gas, creating a more dynamic flue-gas composition than the phase-one stream.
Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed Northwest European hot-rolled coil carbon-accounted at €810/mt ex-works Ruhr Oct. 27, up €5/mt day over day.
Author: Annalisa Villa
