ArcelorMittal and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) are partnering with climate tech company D-CRBN to trial a new technology that converts carbon dioxide (CO2) captured at ArcelorMittal’s plant in Gent, Belgium into carbon monoxide for use in steel and chemical production. This marks the first industrial testing of D-CRBN’s plasma technology, making ArcelorMittal Gent the first steel plant to trial the CO2-reducing process.
This trial expands the ongoing multi-year carbon capture pilot at the site, testing the feasibility of full-scale deployment of MHI’s Advanced KM CDR Process carbon capture technology. D-CRBN, based in Antwerp, has developed a plasma-based technology that uses renewable electricity to convert CO2 into carbon monoxide by breaking the carbon-oxygen bond. The resulting carbon monoxide can be used as a reductant in steelmaking or as a basic ingredient in Gent’s Steelanol plant for chemicals or alternative fuel production.
The D-CRBN process requires high-purity CO2, provided by MHI’s carbon capture unit, which captures off-gases from the blast furnace and the hot strip mill reheating furnace. A pipeline connecting MHI’s carbon capture unit and D-CRBN’s unit was established on July 1st to test the feasibility of using captured CO2 as feedstock for D-CRBN. This industrial pilot is crucial for ensuring that impurities in the CO2 from steelmaking do not negatively affect the process and product gas. ArcelorMittal is exploring various decarbonization routes to achieve its climate targets, including a 35pct reduction in CO2 emissions from ArcelorMittal Europe by 2030. One of these routes is Smart Carbon steelmaking, which involves using circular carbon in the blast furnace, carbon capture and storage (CCS), or carbon capture and utilization (CCU).
