Carbon capture technology pioneer CarbonFree has finalised an agreement with US Steel to capture and mineralise up to 50,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, equivalent to emissions produced by nearly 12,000 passenger cars each year.
The agreement will see CarbonFree building a plant fitted with its SkyCycle carbon capture solution at US Steel’s Gary Works Blast Furnaces to capture emissions from the hard-to-abate steel sector.
Once captured, the solution will convert them into a carbon-neutral version of calcium carbonate – a core component of paper and plastic, paint and building products.
With operations slated to begin in 2026, the project aligns with US Steel’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions intensity 20% by 2030 and achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050.
According to Martin Keighley, CEO of CarbonFree, US Steel is setting a precedent for how manufacturers manage their carbon emissions.
“As carbon capture continues to be recognised as an indispensable solution on the path to carbon neutrality for carbon-intensive industries, we look forward to helping US Steel achieve its decarbonisation goals while providing economic and environmental benefits to the city of Gary and state of Indiana,” he added.
In addition to capturing CO2, CarbonFree will use slag produced by the blast furnace operation as part of the calcium carbonate production process.
“Innovating to capture carbon at an integrated mill is the latest example of how steel is enabling a more sustainable future,” said Scott Buckiso, Senior Vice President & Chief Manufacturing Officer at US Steel.
The steel industry is responsible for 8% of global CO2 emissions. According to the International Energy Association (IEA), carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology needs to apply to more than 53% of primary steel production by 2050 for the Net Zero Emissions scenario.
US Steel says that the announcement represents a ‘first-of-its-kind’ for CCUS in the steel industry, with only a limited number of small capacity carbon capture or utilisation pilots underway or in the planning phases globally.
However, later this year ArcelorMittal Gent will commission its Steelanol project, a scale demonstration plant that will capture carbon-rich process gases from the blast furnace and convert them into ethanol.
CCUS vs DRI
Despite its potential to decarbonise steel, CCS and CCUS have been labelled by some as far too costly, leading steelmakers to opt for hydrogen direct reduced iron (DRI) production to reduce emissions.
In 2021, the Dutch Athos CCS project was cancelled after project partner Tata Steel decided to pursue a DRI process using hydrogen.
Research from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) suggests that DRI-based steelmaking is already leaving CCUS behind in the decarbonisation race.
IEEFA highlights a key report from Agora Industry, which found that CCUS for coal-consuming blast furnaces will not play a major role in global steel decarbonisation, and that a phase-out of coal in the steel sector is technically feasibly by the early 2040s.
The report adds that the 2030 project pipeline of DRI plants has reached 84 million tonnes of capacity globally while commercial-scale CCUS stands at one million tonnes.
The increased interest in decarbonising steel is directly reflected in the global green steel market, which was valued at $200m in 2022, and is projected to reach $364m by 2032, registering a CAGR of 113.6% during the forecast period.
