ArcelorMittal, BHP Group and others begin pilot carbon capture unit operations

ArcelorMittal (MT) and partners Mitsubishi Heavy, BHP (BHP), along with Mitsubishi Development have started operating a 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 progress to full-scale deployment of the technology, which would be able to capture a sizeable portion of the Gent site emissions, if successful. Engineers have been working on site since January to assemble and commission the unit. In October 2022, the four parties announced their collaboration on a multi-year trial of MHI’s carbon capture technology at multiple carbon dioxide emission points, starting at the Gent steelmaking site. The pilot carbon capture unit will be testing initially with blast furnace and reheating furnace gas and has the potential to be trialed to capture other important steelmaking gases such as reformer flue gas from a Direct Reduced Iron plant. 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 and contribute to global technological solutions required for decarbonization of steel production. The EU has an objective to achieve an annual CO2 storage capacity of 50 million tons by 2030, proposed under the Net-Zero Industry Act. To further understand how MHI’s carbon capture technology can be incorporated into existing steel plants, ArcelorMittal is facilitating the trial in Gent, Belgium, with MHI supplying its proprietary carbon capture technology and supporting the engineering studies.