The steel industry is investing millions in researching ways of making steel that promise massive cuts in carbon emissions. This article looks at how the new technologies work & assesses their prospects of becoming a reality. Tata Steel are about to start up a revolutionary new low-carbon process for making steel at its site in IJmuiden, NL, which promises to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20%. The technology will also enable carbon capture to be fitted to steel plants, cutting emissions by 80%. The project, named HIsarna after the celtic word for iron, is part of the European steel industry's ultra-low CO2 steelmaking (ULCOS) research programme. ULCOS is a consortium of 48 organisations including the world's largest steel company ArcelorMittal, India's Tata Steel which owns the Port Talbot & Scunthorpe steelworks in the UK & Germany's ThyssenKrupp. The programme has so far spent £66m provided by steel companies & the EC over the past 6 years. Its aim is to find ways of at least halving steelmaking's CO2 emissions. Millions more will be needed to commercialise the new technologies emerging from the programme. ULCOS has whittled down the number of new technologies potentially capable of achieving its goal from 80 to just 4. A Steel Business Briefing conference in April looked at progress to date.
