The European Commission has announced that it has allocated a budget of €175 million to its Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) for this year with the aim of supporting research in both the steel and coal industries.
The RFCS aims to contribute to decarbonization of the steel industry and circular economy practices as well as to the just transition of the coal industry and coal mining regions.
Accordingly, the steel program under the RFCS with a budget of €100 million that is expected to launch in February this year will focus on pilot and demonstration projects for clean steelmaking technologies such as carbon capture storage and usage and iron ore reduction. In the meantime, the coal program with a budget of €35 million will include pilot and demonstration projects to support the repurposing of closed coal mines, the recovery of energy and critical raw materials and the monitoring of methane emissions.
Also, an additional program to cover both coal and steel projects with a budget of €40 million is scheduled for launch in June this year.
As SteelOrbis reported previously, thyssenkrupp AT.PRO tec had recently secured a research grant of €1.8 million from the RFCS.