Closed loop steelmaking could cut emissions by 90 per cent

The system captures the CO2 from the top gas in furnaces, with a crystalline perovskite lattice splitting out CO and absorbing the remaining oxygen. The CO can be fed back into the blast furnace, while the absorbed oxygen can be released from the perovskite and used in the basic oxygen furnace to produce steel, regenerating the perovskite material in the process.

According to the Birmingham team, this closed loop model could replace 90 per cent of the coke typically used in current steelmaking. In the UK alone, it’s claimed the system – which could be retrofitted to existing steelmaking facilities - would deliver cost savings of £1.28bn over five years and cut the UK’s overall emissions by almost three per cent. The work is published in the Journal of Cleaner Production.

“Current proposals for decarbonising the steel sector rely on phasing out existing plants and introducing electric arc furnaces powered by renewable electricity,” said Professor Yulong Ding, who devised the system alongside his Birmingham School of Chemical Engineering colleague Dr Harriet Kildahl.