ArcelorMittal Belgium will reduce CO2 emissions by 3.9 million tons per year by 2030, by building a 2.5 million-ton direct reduced iron (DRI) plant and two electric furnaces at its Gent site, to operate alongside its state-of-the-art blast furnace that is ready to take waste wood and plastics as a substitute for fossil carbon.
ArcelorMittal announces that it has signed a letter of intent with the Governments of Belgium and Flanders, supporting a €1.1 billion project to build a 2.5 million-ton direct reduced iron (DRI) plant at its site in Gent, as well as two new electric furnaces.
A DRI plant uses natural gas, and potentially hydrogen, instead of coal to reduce iron ore, resulting in a large reduction in CO2 emissions compared with blast furnace ironmaking. The two electric furnaces will melt the DRI and scrap steel, which will then be transformed in the steel shop into steel slabs and then further processed into finished products.
Once the DRI and electric furnaces are built, there will be a transition period during which production will move gradually from blast furnace A, to the DRI and electric furnaces, after which blast furnace A will be closed as it reaches the end of its life. By 2030, this will result in a reduction of around three million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.
The support of both the national and the Flanders governments in this project is crucial given the significant cost associated with the transition to carbon-neutral steelmaking.
Approval from the European Commission for the funding support will also be required.
The DRI plant will operate alongside Gent’s blast furnace B, which restarted production in March 2021 following a significant investment of €195 million.
Various decarbonization initiatives, including the commissioning in 2022 of Gent’s Steelanol/Carbalyst and Torero projects will see annual CO2 emissions reduction of 0.9 million tonnes by 2030.
The combination of the new DRI plant alongside a sustainable, state-of-the-art blast furnace enables the creation of unique synergies in ArcelorMittal Belgium’s roadmap to climate-neutral steelmaking.
Combined, the various initiatives will enable ArcelorMittal Belgium to reduce its CO2 emissions by 3.9 million tons per year by 2030 (on a scope 1 and 2 basis, compared with 2018), which is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 848,172 cars being driven for a year[1]. As a result, ArcelorMittal Belgium will make a significant contribution to ArcelorMittal Europe’s ambition to reduce CO2e emissions intensity by 35% by 2030 and to become carbon neutral by 2050.