Char Technologies wins ArcelorMittal’s inaugural XCarb Accelerator Programme

Luxembourg-based steelmaker ArcelorMittal has selected Char Technologies as the winner of its inaugural XCarb Accelerator Programme, securing a $5 million investment through ArcelorMittal’s XCarb Innovation Fund.

The steelmaker launched the XCarb Accelerator Programme in mid-2022, it says, as a way to seek out the best companies and brightest breakthrough technologies that hold the potential to accelerate the decarbonization of the steel industry. The company says it received applications across seven distinct technology domains from over 90 startups representing five different continents.

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The winner, Canada-based Char, is developing a high-temperature pyrolysis (HTP) technology that it says transforms organic waste streams into one of two energy outputs: a high-calorific value and hydrogen-rich syngas that can be used as a replacement for natural gas or to make green hydrogen, and biocarbon—made from the remaining solids after the HTP process—that can be used as a biochar fertilizer to improve soil health, a pollutant filter or as biocarbon to replace coal in industrial processes.

ArcelorMittal says its Canadian flat steel operation, ArcelorMittal Dofasco, has been collaborating with Char to test using its biocarbon as a partial replacement for coal in its steelmaking processes, with encouraging results. The company says Char’s biocarbon enables an approximate 91 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to metallurgical coal and has been tested and validated by ArcelorMittal Dofasco since 2021. ArcelorMittal Dofasco has signed a memorandum of understanding with Char for the purchase of biocarbon from Char’s Thorold, Ontario, facility that will enable larger scale trials in the coming years.

“We were delighted with the response to our inaugural Accelerator Programme, receiving high-quality entries from many emerging technology companies,” says Irina Gorbounova, head of the XCarb Innovation Fund. “Selecting a final three was a tough challenge for our judging panel but I believe we have found a very worthy winner in Char.

“I am especially pleased that not only are we investing in them, but we are already working alongside them, testing their product at one of our Canadian steel plants,” Gorbounova adds. “This is one of the advantages of our Innovation Fund and our unique approach. We provide seed capital of course, but we also provide the industrial infrastructure and R&D collaboration that breakthrough technology companies need to bring their product to market.”

Calgary, Alberta-based Carbon Upcycling and Antwerp, Belgium-based D-CRBN were joint runners-up in the program. ArcelorMittal says it has established strategic partnerships with both companies, with its global research and development teams supporting the development of their technologies, and ArcelorMittal holding the option to invest in the future.

According to the steelmaker, Carbon Upcycling focuses on circularity and carbon reduction in hard-to-abate sectors. Its practical carbon-tech integrates directly into industrial facilities such as steel and cement to upcycle byproducts and mineralize carbon, resulting in zero-carbon cement replacements.

ArcelorMittal says D-CRBN has developed a proprietary plasma-based carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technology thatrecycles captured CO₂ into value-added products such as e-fuels, polymers and chemicals.

ArcelorMittal’s XCarb Innovation Fund launched in March 2021. Since its launch, it has invested over $160 million in seven companies that are developing technologies ranging from long-term battery storage to green hydrogen to CCU and more. Via the fund, the steelmaker also is an anchor partner in the Breakthrough Energy Catalyst program, committing $100 million over five years.