Global steelmaker ArcelorMittal has announced that its Spain-based subsidiary ArcelorMittal Asturias has completed its coke gas injection project for the blast furnace B at its Gijón plant. It is a strategic step to reduce carbon emissions and operational costs, thanks to lower coke consumption.
The project, which is a part of the Smart Carbon approach that allows gases from various sources to be injected into the blast furnace, will result in a reduction in carbon emissions by 125,000 mt per year.
The Asturias project is based on the idea of reducing the amount of carbon generated in the hot metal production process, through the re-use of part of the gas generated in the coke oven batteries to partially replace the coke used as fuel in the blast furnace. The plant is also finalizing the work that will allow coke gas to be supplied to the reheating furnaces in the Heavy Plate and Rail mills in the coming weeks, thus reducing the consumption of natural gas and the generation of CO2. These rolling mills process steel slabs and billets from the Avilés and Gijón steel plants, transforming them into heavy plates and rails, respectively.
The project was postponed in 2019, as SteelOrbis previously reported.
Meanwhile, ArcelorMittal Europe aims to reduce its carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030 and to become carbon neutral by 2050.
