An industry consortium comprising the leading steelmakers ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India, JSW Steel, and Hyundai Steel, together with the value chain players BHP, Chevron, and Mitsui & Co, is undertaking a pre-feasibility study to assess the development of CCUS hubs across Asia.

The CCUS Hub study is the first independent industry-led study of its kind in Asia and will examine the technical and commercial pathways to utilising CCUS in hard-to-abate industries across Asia. The study will focus on the potential to develop large-scale projects able to repurpose or store captured CO2.

By leveraging shared infrastructure and economies of scale, the study will seek potential applications for CO2 captured in industrial processes, or via pipeline or shipping transport to storage sites in Asia or Northern Australia. 

The plan is for each participant in the study to be included in at least one hub. It will deliver conceptual development strategies for each hub, including cost and schedule estimates, and potential commercialisation pathways.

The study will also look at non-technical enablers required to make CCUS hubs a reality, for example, regulatory assessments including intra- and inter-regional assessments of CCUS and cross-border transport. It is expected to conclude at the end of 2026, with findings to be shared publicly to promote broader industry learning and support the development of enabling policy and regulatory frameworks.

The Consortium is prioritising the next important step, the study of scalable utilisation and storage solutions to test the potential for broader adoption to support decarbonisation, especially in regions where regulatory hurdles and market maturity limit progress.

By concentrating on regional hubs, the Consortium’s study will look to find ways to solve the challenge of scale by aggregating captured carbon into sufficiently large quantities to:

•   Optimise the unit cost of capture, transportation, and storage through economies-of-scale
•   Provide sufficient scale for economic utilisation solutions
•   Unlock novel solutions for multiple hard-to-abate industries, to enable regional decarbonisation efforts to be accelerated, and/or
•   Ensure cost and risk are appropriately shared among interested parties.

Dr Ben Ellis, Vice President Marketing Sustainability at BHP commented, “BHP is committed to supporting our steelmaking customers on their journey to decarbonise the industry. With more than 1 billion tonnes of production a year in Asia coming from blast furnace capacity that is relatively early in its production life, it’s important for industry to progress technologies to decarbonise existing steelmaking assets while new commercial pathways to decarbonise steelmaking are developed over time. By leveraging shared knowledge and resources with our partners, we are investing in support for innovative solutions, like the potential of CCUS, that we see as an essential part of decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors such as steelmaking.”