Steel is one of the most energy- and carbon-intensive industries in the world. That’s why ArcelorMittal are committed to cutting our energy consumption and carbon emissions wherever we can – helping our customers to do the same.

For this reason, ArcelorMittal is deeply invested in finding new, more efficient methods of producing steel – along with productive uses for our carbon emissions. That’s why their R&D teams are working alongside a range of partners to help effect change in the carbon footprint of steel production.

Three examples are:

• Finding practical uses for CO2: It’s in everyone’s interest to use CO2 – a steelmaking by-product – rather than emit it into the atmosphere. That’s why we’re currently investigating seven solutions including the capture and use of CO2 to produce fuels and chemicals.
• Exploring low-Impact Steelmaking (LIS): ArcelorMittal is investigating new approaches to the existing steelmaking process to find ways to reuse the gas produced during steel production. They are doing this with aid from a state-of-the-art laboratory at our Dunkerque plant, where new techniques can be tested and assessed. They have committed $25 million out of the total $43 million budget for the project to date and expect it to be operational this year.
• Finding alternative processes for reducing iron ore: As part of our LIS programme, ArcelorMittal is working with others to develop alternative processes for reducing iron ore to avoid the sintering and coke-making stages of iron production – both of which are costly and carbon-intensive. A pilot in Maizières, France, is reducing iron using electrolysis, whilst another pilot in Ijmuiden, Holland, is using oxygen and coal fines to reduce iron directly – producing a waste gas suitable for the direct re-use of CO2.