BHP, JSW Steel to explore use of carbon capture technology in steelmaking

BHP and JSW Steel have teamed up to explore and accelerate the adoption of a modular technology developed by UK-based Carbon Clean to decarbonize the steelmaking process, with a particular focus in India.

Indian steel producers are collectively the world’s second largest, and therefore will likely have a critical role in achieving the country’s target of net zero by 2070. With the increasing commissioning of blast furnaces in India with decades of life ahead of them, supporting longer-term decarbonization routes is essential.

Under a joint study agreement agreement, JSW and BHP will assess the feasibility of Carbon Clean’s CycloneCC modular technology to capture up to 100,000 tonnes per year of CO2 emissions – the largest scale CycloneCC deployment to date in steelmaking.

Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies like CycloneCC are anticipated to be a critical abatement to support a near zero CO2 emissions intensity for this process route, as well as potentially for other hard-to-abate industrial sectors.

However, there are several challenges with the adoption of carbon capture technology in the steel industry, including capital expenditure and ongoing operating costs, as well as the integration of new equipment into an existing site.

The CycloneCC rotating packed bed (RPB) technology, in combination with Carbon Clean’s proprietary APBS-CDRMax solvent, aims to address these challenges through reducing total installed cost and the unit footprint by up to 50%, and equipment that is ten times smaller in size than conventional carbon capture technologies.

This project, says BHP, is an important step towards supporting the scale-up of carbon capture, including understanding the potential performance, costs and carbon abatement outcomes. It is anticipated that the joint studies will be completed during 2026, at which time the parties will consider installing CycloneCC at JSW’s Vijayanagar site in Karnataka, India.

Utilization – the ‘U’ in CCUS – is a key component of the project. If the project is successful, JSW Steel intends to liquefy captured CO2 so that it can be sold locally, it adds.

“We are actively studying multiple pathways for steel decarbonization, including through use of hydrogen and renewable power, but we recognize that the blast furnace route will likely remain a pathway for the production of steel, particularly within India,” commented BHP’s chief commercial officer Rag Udd.

Jayant Acharya, joint managing director and CEO of JSW Steel, said: “We believe CCUS could be a financially viable decarbonization lever which would be crucial to achieve near zero emissions in the steel sector and this collaboration for a scale-up application would help pave the way forward.”

Acharya also noted that JSW, as India’s leading private sector steel company, has already achieved a reduction of carbon emissions intensity by 30% against its 2005 baseline, and is aiming to further reduce its steelmaking intensity to 1.95 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of steel by 2030 and achieving net neutral carbon emissions by 2050.