• Waste wood replacing coal: read about our Torero project, a €40 million demonstration plant in Ghent, Belgium, to convert 120,000 tonnes of waste wood into biocoal for use in iron ore reduction in place of coal 
  • Carbon capture and use: read about our Carbalyst® project with our partner LanzaTech and our $120m industrial-scale demonstration plant in Ghent to capture carbon offgases and convert them into the Carbalyst® range of products.  
  • Carbon capture and use: Read about our IGAR project, converting waste CO2 from the blast furnace into a synthetic gas that can be reinjected into the blast furnace in place of coal. 

1) Circular carbon. We are applying ‘smart carbon’ thinking in several projects. These enable recycled carbon such as waste wood or plastics to replace coal in the blast furnace. At the same time our blast furnace gases can be treated and recycled internally, or converted into chemicals.

2) Clean powerWith sufficient green electricity, a transition to low-carbon steelmaking would be possible using hydrogen or direct electrolysis  

  • Hydrogen: read about our Hamburg industrial-scale demonstration project to use hydrogen for the direct reduction of iron ore (DRI).  
  • Electrolysis: read about our Siderwin project developing the technology to reduce iron ore via direct electrolysis powered by electricity alone.  
  • Clean electricity can also contribute to other low-emissions technology pathways, for example to reform biogas into hydrogen and carbon gases for iron ore reduction in the blast furnace.

3) Fossil fuel with CCSIf we continue to use fossil fuels, the carbon must be captured and stored (CCS) to achieve carbon neutral steelmaking.  

  • Carbon capture: read about our Carbon2Value and Dunkirk projects, piloting the capture of CO2 for storage or reuse. 
  • Read about our work with international energy firm Equinor as part of the Northern Lights project which aims to develop the transport, reception and permanent storage of CO2 in a reservoir in the North Sea.