ArcelorMittal and Thyssenkrupp Steel have both recently announced successful testing of methods to reduce carbon emissions in blast-furnace steelmaking via coke gas and hydrogen, the companies have reported separately.
ArcelorMittal has completed its coke gas injection project at the Alto B Furnace at its Gij??n operations, Spain. This is intended to reduce its CO2 emissions by 125,000 tonnes per year, and its operating costs via lower consumption of coke.ArcelorMittal Europe has two main technology methods to reduce its carbon emissions - Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) and Smart Carbon.The DRI method involves the use of hydrogen in the direct-reduction process of iron ore in the electric steel mill and blast furnace, while Smart Carbon is a carbon-neutral method of pig iron manufacturing that uses clean energies such as circular carbon, clean electricity and carbon capture and storage (CCS).In its first phase, Smart Carbon will primarily use circular carbon. This will subsequently be expanded to the use of hydrogen, when enough supplies of green hydrogen are available at affordable prices, the company says.Included in the Smart Carbon approach,...