Carbon capture can play an important role in reducing emissions from steelmaking, but developing the infrastructure and value chains required to transport, store and utilize captured carbon remains a major challenge, according to Dr. Alexander Fleischanderl, CTO and global head of green steel at UK-based plantmaker Primetals Technologies.
Fleischanderl stated that the steel industry should remain technology-agnostic in its decarbonization efforts, with energy efficiency, electrification, hydrogen and carbon capture all expected to play a role. While hydrogen-based direct reduction is expected to become increasingly important, blast furnaces are likely to remain part of global steel production for decades due to their long operating lives and the capital already invested in them.
According to the International Energy Agency, the steel industry accounts for around eight percent of global energy-related carbon emissions. Against this backdrop, Fleischanderl said carbon capture should not be viewed as an alternative to hydrogen, but as one of the technologies available to reduce emissions as the broader energy transition progresses.
Carbon transport and storage infrastructure remain a challenge
However, capturing carbon represents only the first stage. Captured carbon must subsequently be cleaned, compressed and transported before being either utilized or permanently stored. Fleischanderl noted that developing this value chain requires infrastructure, regulation, investment and companies willing to purchase captured carbon at scale.
Potential uses include the production of methanol, urea and other chemical feedstocks, as well as synthetic aviation and marine fuels. Enhanced oil recovery represents another possible application, while geological storage will remain necessary where commercially viable utilization options are unavailable. Many carbon utilization pathways also require substantial amounts of renewable electricity or hydrogen, making their viability dependent on regional energy infrastructure and economics.
Cross-industry cooperation needed for carbon utilization
As a result, Fleischanderl stressed the growing importance of cooperation between steelmakers and companies in other industries, including chemicals, utilities, cement, energy and infrastructure. Captured carbon, process gases and waste heat could increasingly become resources supplied by steel plants to other industrial sectors.
Primetals Technologies cited ArcelorMittal Belgium's Steelanol project in Ghent, as an example of this approach. Developed together with Primetals Technologies, LanzaTech and E4tech/ERM, the facility converts blast furnace gases into ethanol. According to Primetals Technologies, the fully ramped-up facility can produce up to 80 million liters of advanced ethanol annually while reducing carbon emissions at the plant by around 125,000 mt per year.
Future steel plants could become broader resource hubs
Fleischanderl stated that future steel plants could consequently evolve from primarily single-product production facilities into broader resource hubs, with steel remaining their main product while captured carbon, process gases and waste heat generate additional value. According to him, most of the technologies required for this transition already exist, while the infrastructure and markets needed to deploy them at scale remain underdeveloped.
He therefore emphasized that steel decarbonization will depend on the combination of different technologies and closer cooperation across industrial value chains, rather than on a single technological solution.
