Norwegian company Blastr Green Steel (Blastr) is planning to establish a green steel plant with an integrated hydrogen production facility in Inkoo, Finland. Blastr has entered into a letter of intent with Nordic energy company Fortum that provides Blastr exclusive rights to utilize an existing industrial site located in Inkoo. The approximately $4.2 billion investment is expected to create up to 1,200 direct jobs in the operations phase. Production is scheduled to start by end of 2026. The facility will produce 2.5 million tons of high-quality hot- and cold-rolled green steel annually.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. announced that its initial phase of research being conducted with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) is coming to a close. Based on the results of the initial study, Cleveland-Cliffs submitted an application for funding from the DOE’s OCED for the next phase of research for the front-end engineering design (FEED) for large-scale carbon capture at its Burns Harbor integrated iron and steel facility in northwest Indiana. The company’s Burns Harbor project aims to capture up to 2.8 million tons of CO₂ per year from blast-furnace gas with a net carbon-capture efficiency of at least 95%.

In the U.S. manufacturing sector, the steam and a large percentage of electricity is produced by using fuels such as natural gas, coal or other types of byproduct fuels.

In 2020, United States industrial activity was directly responsible for approximately one-quarter of the country’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Most of these emissions were associated with burning fossil fuels for heat, making the adoption of zero-emissions industrial heating processes critical to achieving U.S. climate goals.

ArcelorMittal broke ground on its decarbonization project at the ArcelorMittal Dofasco plant in Hamilton, Ontario. The project, which was first announced in July 2021, is part of the company’s target to reduce the carbon intensity of the steel it produces by 25% by 2030. The $1.3 billion project will fundamentally change the way steel is made at ArcelorMittal Dofasco, transitioning the site to direct-reduced-iron electric-arc furnace (DRI-EAF) steelmaking. This process carries a lower carbon footprint and removes coal from the ironmaking process. The company’s new DRI furnace, which has a capacity of 2.5 million metric tons, will initially operate on natural gas but will be constructed so it can be transitioned to utilize green hydrogen as a clean energy input when a sufficient, cost-effective supply of green hydrogen becomes available. 

United States Steel Corp., Equinor US Holdings Inc. and Shell US Gas & Power LLC entered into a non-exclusive cooperation agreement to advance a collaborative clean energy hub in the Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania region. The hub would focus on decarbonization opportunities that feature carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS), as well as hydrogen production and utilization. The development of this hub and its associated infrastructure would generate new jobs, stimulate economic growth and help achieve significant reductions in carbon emissions.

The Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE-NETL) selected the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Prairie Research Institute (PRI) for an award of $3,459,554 for research and development to support a front-end engineering design study on carbon dioxide (CO₂) removal technologies. The study will focus on the advancement of a direct air capture and utilization system (DACUS), which can remove 5,000 metric tons per year of CO₂ from ambient air and then permanently mineralize it in concrete products. If built, the designed system would be larger than any existing direct air capture system (DAC). The study will launch at U.S. Steel’s Gary Works in Gary, Ind., using DAC technology developed by CarbonCapture Inc. The technology will use the plant’s waste heat, energy and location, so energy and transportation costs can be minimized.

The U.S. Department of Energy released a Request for Information (RFI) to the public on “Industrial Decarbonization Priorities” in January 2022.

Metinvest and SMS group and its subsidiary, Paul Wurth, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to work together to reduce carbon emissions from steelmaking and ironmaking. SMS group will support Metinvest in improving its operational efficiency and environmental performance. The MOU also sets out an agenda for discussions about future areas of cooperation with the greatest potential. The agreement is expected to provide the companies with the opportunity to develop and test new technologies to enhance steelmaking and ironmaking, as well as downstream processes.

Ternium signed a memorandum of understanding with Brazilian mining company Vale to develop steelmaking solutions focused on reducing CO₂ emissions. The partnership is an important step in Ternium’s decarbonization strategy. The steelmaker is committed to reduce its CO₂ emission intensity by 20% by 2030. Ternium and Vale intend to develop economic feasibility studies of potential investments in an iron-ore briquetting plant at Ternium’s Brazil facility and plants to produce metallic products with a low-carbon footprint using Tecnored and HYL.