In September 2021 we announced a €1.1 billion project to build a 2.5 million-tonne DRI and two new electric furnaces, which will operate alongside Gent’s blast furnace B, which restarted production in March 2021 following a significant relining investment of €195 million which means the blast furnace is ready to take waste wood and plastics as a substitute for fossil carbon.
Our plant in Gent, Belgium, has long been regarded as one of Europe’s most efficient, highest quality and lowest emissions integrated steelworks. The plans we have recently announced – in partnership with the Belgian and Flemish governments – are designed to take the plant to the next level of excellence and showcase every aspect of our low-emissions steelmaking technology portfolio.
“To tackle the climate crisis, we need ambitious action. European countries are leading the way, with clear targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050. It is good to see that sectors with a large footprint are also joining the race by investing in innovation that reduces emissions and, in the long term, achieves carbon neutrality. This major investment in new technology by ArcelorMittal is important for the wider Ghent region, for reducing our country's footprint, and shows that decarbonising our economy is a joint effort.” - Alexander De Croo, Prime Minister of Belgium
The combination of the new DRI plant alongside a sustainable, state-of-the-art blast furnace enables the creation of unique synergies in ArcelorMittal Gent’s roadmap to climate-neutral steelmaking. Combined, the various initiatives will enable ArcelorMittal Gent to reduce its CO2 emissions by 3.9 million tonnes per year by 2030, which is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 848,172 cars being driven for a year.
The hybrid model approach of Smart Carbon and Innovative-DRI steelmaking in Gent fits into ArcelorMittal Belgium’s CO2 roadmap which sits on three axes:
- Further improvement of material and energy efficiency as well as increased scrap usage
- The implementation of Smart Carbon technologies, including our flagship Carbalyst® and Torero projects
- Integrating hydrogen as a replacement for natural gas as the reductant to make DRI
The event in Gent was attended by Aditya Mittal, CEO, ArcelorMittal, Lakshmi N. Mittal, Executive Chairman, ArcelorMittal, and Alexander De Croo, Prime Minister of Belgium, as well as other delegates of the Belgian and Flemish governments.
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