A pilot carbon capture unit is now operating on the blast furnace off-gas at the ArcelorMittal steel plant in Gent, Belgium.

The trial will run for one to two years and will test the feasibility of progress to full-scale deployment of Advanced KM CDR Process™, the carbon capture technology designed by project partner Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI).

The unit will test initially with blast furnace and reheating furnace gas and has the potential to be trialled to capture steelmaking gases such as reformer flue gas from a Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) plant. A successful outcome could feed into multiple CO₂ transport and storage projects under development in the North Sea region, thereby contributing to the global technological solutions being sought to decarbonise steel production.

In terms of the Net-Zero Industry Act, the EU objective is to achieve an annual CO₂ storage capacity of 50 million tonnes by 2030. International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates for the Net Zero Emissions scenario are that carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) technology needs to apply to more than 37 per cent of primary steel production by 2050.