Successful Carbon Capture Trial At Arcelormittal Gent Shows Potential To Significantly Reduce CO₂ Intensity In Steel Production

A carbon capture trial by ArcelorMittal, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), BHP and Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd (MDP) has successfully captured carbon dioxide (CO_₂) from blast furnace gas by applying MHI’s Advanced KM CDR Process at ArcelorMittal’s integrated steelmaking site in Gent, Belgium, concluding the first phase of the trial (phase 1).

The trial demonstrated CO_₂ capture, at pilot scale, at rates exceeding 90 per cent and provided the operational and engineering data to support the assessment of the potential for future full-scale application of the carbon capture technology at the Gent blast furnace.

The assessments based on the trial results indicate that applying this technology at full scale to the pre-combustion blast furnace off-gas could reduce the CO_₂ intensity at the Gent site by up to 24% . If the technology is further applied across multiple emission points in the steelmaking plant, the approach could support progress towards near zero emissions intensity .

The next phase (phase 2) of the trial aims to broaden the application of carbon capture technology across multiple emission points of the steelmaking process. This includes testing the capture technology on gases from the hot strip mill reheating furnace.

The hot strip mill reheating furnace is fired with gas and heats thick steel slabs to the temperature required for rolling into thin sheets.

Phase 1: Overview of completed trial capturing CO_₂ from blast furnace gas
Phase 1 of testing focused on capturing CO_₂ from a proportion of the blast furnace off-gas, involving more than 4,500 hours of operational testing.

The blast furnace test demonstrated the technical feasibility of applying MHI’s carbon capture technology in the steel sector at facilities like ArcelorMittal’s site in Gent, a challenging industrial environment in which unburnt process gas, known as off-gas, carries dust, sulphur-containing compounds and other contaminants. The successful test increases confidence in the potential application of this technology across the sector.

Blast furnace off-gas contains significant concentrations of CO₂ and carbon monoxide (CO). In this phase of the trial, only the CO_₂ was captured.

At an integrated steelmaking plant, the remaining carbon content (in the form of CO), can be used for power and heat generation elsewhere on site, with CO_₂ released upon combustion.

Phase 2: Advancing to hot strip mill reheating furnace gas testing
Consistent with the planned phased approach of the trial, an additional emission source within the integrated steelworks is also being assessed for the application of carbon capture technology.

Building on the phase 1 progress, the demonstration’s second phase will capture CO_₂ from gases produced by the hot strip mill reheating furnace (post-combustion).

The hot strip mill reheating furnace uses a blend of by-product gases from the steelmaking process, including coke oven gas, blast furnace off-gas and basic oxygen furnace gas, which together with natural gas represents a capture point with another source of CO₂ emissions within integrated steelmaking operations.

Phase 2 of the trial will assess the performance of MHI’s technology under a different and more dynamic flue-gas profile, providing further data on the integration of carbon capture across multiple emission points or processes within an integrated steelworks.

Combining carbon capture technology across multiple processes in the steel plant, it could support progress towards near-zero emissions intensity steelmaking for the blast furnace. The results will inform updated engineering and deployment studies for future full scale applications.

Continuing the collaboration established during phase 1 of the pilot, ArcelorMittal is facilitating the trial in Gent, with MHI providing its proprietary Advanced KM CDR Process, and leading the carbon capture process engineering and technical evaluation. BHP and MDP, as key suppliers of high-quality steelmaking raw materials to ArcelorMittal’s European operations, are providing funding to support the trial.

Together with our partners, we set out to better understand how carbon capture technology can be incorporated into existing steel plants. I am therefore very pleased at the successful outcome of the first stage of this important carbon capture trial at ArcelorMittal Gent. Scaling up the technologies we need to decarbonise, is the vital next step in our journey, and the blast furnace gas trial has given us important data in this respect. I would like to thank our partners, and all ArcelorMittal employees involved in making this stage of the pilot a success, and I look forward to seeing the first results from using carbon capture in the hot strip mill reheating furnace- Frederik Van De Velde, CEO ArcelorMittal Belgium

Completing more than 4,500 hours of operation and demonstrating CO_₂ capture rates exceeding 90% from blast furnace gas represent an important milestone for the application of MHI’s carbon capture technology in the steel industry. The campaign has demonstrated the ability of the Advanced KM CDR Process to operate under challenging blast furnace gas conditions, including the presence of dust, sulphur-containing compounds and other impurities, while generating the data to support the assessment for future commercial-scale design. The next phase at the hot strip mill will further strengthen our understanding of how carbon capture can be integrated across multiple emission sources at an operating steelworks. This project demonstrates how MHI’s proven carbon capture expertise can be applied to one of the world’s most challenging industrial decarbonisation applications- Tatsuto Nagayasu, Senior Vice President and Head of CCUS at MHI

The results of this trial are very promising and demonstrate the abatement potential of the blast furnace and integrated steelmaking route. 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.

With around 70 per cent of global steel production from blast furnace steelmaking today, and anticipation for the route to remain a key steelmaking process for decades to come, it is critical that we work to reduce emissions from the blast furnace process while developing alternate steelmaking pathways- Dr Ben Ellis, Vice President Marketing Sustainability, BHP

The positive results from phase 1 of testing have strengthened our confidence that carbon capture applied to blast furnace gas could provide a viable pathway for reducing emissions from the steel sector. While energy efficiency improvements and the use of high-quality raw materials will continue to play an important role in reducing emissions over the near to medium term, technologies such as CCUS have the potential to make a significant contribution to the steel industry's long-term decarbonisation efforts- Tadashi Mizuno, Managing Director & CEO, MDP