Photo courtesy of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.
ArcelorMittal and partners Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI), BHP and Mitsubishi Development Pty. Ltd. claim a successful start with a trial pilot carbon capture unit on the blast furnace off-gas at ArcelorMittal Gent in Belgium.
The pilot carbon capture unit will operate for one to two years at Gent to test the feasibility of progressing to full-scale deployment of the technology. The company says it should capture a sizeable portion of the Gent site’s emissions, if successful. Engineers have been working on-site since January to assemble and commission the unit.
"This represents real progress in proving up the feasibility of carbon capture for steel production, and BHP is delighted to be part of this consortium working on the pilot plant," BHP Group Sales & Marketing Officer Michiel Hovers says. "This work could help develop a technology that may significantly lower CO2 emissions intensity from the blast furnace, which remains critical to meet steel demand, and while other pathways are further matured."
The trial at Gent consists of two phases, where the first phase separates and captures the CO2 from the top gas from the blast furnace at a rate of around 300 kilograms of CO2 per day. This brings a technical challenge given the differing levels of contaminants in the top gas. The second phase tests separation and capture of CO2 in the off-gases in the hot strip mill reheating furnace, which burns a mixture of industrial gases, including coke gas, blast furnace gases and natural gas.
"ArcelorMittal Belgium's decarbonization efforts can be summarized in three axes," ArcelorMittal Belgium CEO Manfred Van Vlierberghe said at the consortium meeting in Gent. "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. Here, the installation of the carbon capture unit on our Gent blast furnace is a great example. The main ambition is to achieve completely carbon-free processes. A radical change is difficult, so we embrace every step that takes us towards our goal."
In October 2022, the four companies announced a joint collaboration on a multiyear trial of MHI's carbon capture technology at multiple carbon dioxide-emission points, starting at the Gent steelmaking site. The pilot carbon capture unit is being tested with blast furnace and reheating furnace gas. Collaborators believe it has the potential to capture steelmaking gases such as reformer flue gas from a direct reduced iron plant.
ArcelorMittal and partners say the development of the carbon capture solution at Gent could feed into multiple CO2 transport and storage projects under development in the North Sea region. They hope it contributes to global technological solutions required to decarbonize steel production. Proposed under the Net-Zero Industry Act, the European Union’s objective is to achieve an annual CO2 storage capacity of 50 million metric tons by 2030. Moreover, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates carbon capture, utilization and storage, or CCUS, technology must apply to more than 37 percent of primary steel production by 2050.
ArcelorMittal is facilitating the trial in Gent, with MHI supplying its proprietary carbon capture technology and supporting the engineering studies. BHP and Mitsubishi Development, as key suppliers of high-quality steelmaking raw materials to ArcelorMittal's European operations, are supporting trial funding.
"The launch of this pilot carbon-capture unit marks a significant milestone on the iron and steel industry's journey toward net-zero emissions," MHI Senior Vice President of GX (Green Transformation) Solutions Tatsuto Nagayasu says. "As a provider of innovative technologies, we are thrilled to witness our solutions in action, helping to decarbonize existing assets. We eagerly anticipate further deploying our technologies to achieve this goal."
Mitsubishi Development CEO Kenichiro Tauchi adds, "This pilot is a significant step towards advancement of carbon-capture technology as a potential solution to achieve solid emission reductions in the steel sector. We will continue to demonstrate our commitment to advancing confidence in reducing emissions in hard-to-abate industries as we move towards achieving a carbon-neutral society."
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