Delivering CCUS and Circularity to the Steel Industry
The UK Government has targeted a 95% emission reduction from steelmaking by 2050, while the UK’s Climate Change Committee has recommended that emissions from ore-based steelmaking be near zero by 2035. Countries around the world are setting similar targets. Whilst the global steel industry is taking steps to reducing its emissions, it remains a challenging journey.
Two weeks ago, UK Steel published a comprehensive report on how it intends the UK steel industry to achieve Net Zero. Gareth Stace, UK Steel’s Director General described it as a “generational challenge” but also a massive opportunity to transform the steel industry and offer the industry a long-term and sustainable future.
With the UK producing 7 million tonnes of steel each year, giving rise to around 11.6 million tCO₂, the UK Steel report - “Net Zero Steel: A Vision for the Future of UK Steel Production”, highlighted a number of areas which could revolutionise steel production, including CCUS. Carbon8 is excited by the work that is taking place in the UK and overseas to support steel’s green transition, and as members of the South Wales Industrial Cluster (SWIC) which has steel as a top priority, we are actively exploring how our CCU technology can be deployed.
“The steel sector acknowledges the need to change and this is highlighted again in the NetZero Report.”
At Carbon8, we understand that the manufacturing process is a critical consideration however, we believe in the transformation of wastes and carbon more broadly. For each tonne of steel manufactured, 0.1 – 0.3 tonnes of slag produced. While some slag has useful applications, with over two billion tonnes of slag produced globally each year, it represents a significant waste problem.
Our technology innovation addresses two of the main challenges that the steel industry faces: cutting its CO₂ emissions and the management of the wastes from steel’s manufacturing. Our solution, based on more than 25 years R&D, has the ability to combine the CO₂ emissions from a steel plant with the slag from the same plant to produce a valuable CircaBuild aggregate for commercial use. Specifically, many steel slags are rich in calcium and magnesium and therefore reactive to CO₂. It is this reaction that we optimise and accelerate. Our Accelerated Carbonation Technology (ACT) can realise the potential of slags as a significant carbon sink, an alternative to costly landfill and an additional revenue stream for the steel industry.
Already active in the cement industry, and with recent investment from EDF and Vicat Group, we see our work as being at the forefront of circularity and a readily available solution for the global steel industry. This more than a sustainable offering. This is Circular Impact.
