ArcelorMittal generates 125,000 mt/year of emissions cuts from Spain hydrogen project

ArcelorMittal's project for hydrogen injection into a blast furnace in Spain is generating 125,000 mt/year of carbon emissions reductions, the steelmaker said July 13.

The company is pursuing emissions cuts to support market development of low-carbon steel.

ArcelorMittal had completed a project earlier this year to capture coke oven gas and re-inject hydrogen-rich gas into the blast furnace at Gijon, in the province of Asturias, the company said in a statement. It is pursuing new investments with Eur1 billion ($1.18 billion) support from the Spanish government, which may allow for around 5 million mt/year of emissions to be cut and support sales of low-carbon steel.

ArcelorMittal said it was using the carbon emissions savings from the Asturias project in its "XCarb" green steel certificates, which were launched in March as a way to offer low-carbon steel by tying steel with offsets from its projects.

Investment has allowed hydrogen-rich gas from cokemaking to replace some met coke needed in the blast furnace, it said. The company has two blast furnaces in operation in Gijon. Blast furnaces in Europe typically use met coke and pulverized coal injection to optimize processes and reduce iron-making costs.

ArcelorMittal is pursuing lower carbon emissions using direct reduction iron and exploring new ways of recycling, capturing and reusing carbon from its processes. The company's European operations are seeking to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by 2030 and be net-zero by 2050.

ArcelorMittal plans to invest in a 2.3 million mt/year DRI plant due to start in 2025, along with a 1.1 million mt/year hybrid electric arc furnace mill in Gijon, and supply DRI to its Sestao EAF operations, reducing carbon emissions. By 2025, Sestao will be the first full-scale steel plant to achieve zero carbon emissions, it said. ArcelorMittal's plans could pip the HYBRIT joint venture in Sweden, in the race to provide commercial supplies of iron and steel via green hydrogen.

The DRI plant will run on natural gas, should green hydrogen not be available by the end of 2025 on commercially affordable terms, ArcelorMittal said.

ArcelorMittal plans to access green hydrogen "supplied through a consortium of companies that will cooperate in the construction of the infrastructure required in order to produce hydrogen in the Iberian Peninsula using solar-powered electrolysis and to transport it directly through a network of pipelines," it said. "The initiative involves the construction of multiple large-scale solar farms, with hydrogen produced in situ and with the corresponding impact in terms of employment."

A natural-gas based DRI plant will result in a 45% reduction in carbon emissions from the Spanish operations, of around 4 million mt/year, while using green hydrogen as a fuel would allow for up to 4.8 million mt/year in cuts. ArcelorMittal said it will introduce new manufacturing processes, contributing to a reduction in emissions.