A tour of the site
Progress towards DRI-EAF and CCUS based steelmaking in practice
ArcelorMittal has taken a technology-agnostic approach to decarbonisation focused on three key areas:
DRI-EAF projects. The production of Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) with green hydrogen (gas as a transition) with steelmaking subsequently in the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) ;
Smart Carbon which modifies the blast furnace to take advantage of gas injection/ recirculation, bioenergy and carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS); and
Longer term, direct electrolysis (which uses clean electricity to power the direct electrolysis of iron ore) is currently in R&D phase. Once the technology has been proven, direct electrolysis could also be used to decarbonise steel at scale.
The decarbonisation of the steel making progress needs to be economically viable. Therefore, the flexibility to apply different routes to decarbonisation will be important to ensure the sustainability of our projects around the world.
ArcelorMittal Belgium, and specifically our Ghent site, showcases examples of Smart Carbon with a CCS pilot, CCUS demonstration plant, a DRI-EAF project and also energy efficiency (e.g. use of renewables).
To put ArcelorMittal Belgium into context of the group, it has 5m metric tonnes of crude steel production. The site at Ghent is an integrated production site which produces a wide range of products; hot rolled, cold rolled, metallic coated and organically coated steel.
Click on the video below to have a tour of the site: