BHP Leads Steelmaker Venture In Asian Carbon Capture Storage

(Bloomberg) -- The world’s biggest miner, BHP Group, will lead a consortium of steelmakers and other industrial giants in investigating opportunities for carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) across Asia, it said in a statement Monday. 

ArcelorMittall Nippon Steel India Pvt Ltd., JSW Steel ltd., Hyundai Steel Co., along with gas major Chevron Corp., and Mitsui & Co. Ltd., are partners in the study, BHP said. Together, they will produce a pre-feasibility study to identify potential large-scale CCUS projects to store emissions from blast furnaces used to turn iron into steel. Steelmaking accounts for roughly 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions.

There are limited commercial CCUS projects in Asia and the viability of the nascent technology is still in doubt. It involves capturing carbon dioxide emissions from large industrial facilities, and permanently sequestering them in underground reservoirs. 

With more than 1 billion tons of steel production a year in Asia coming from blast furnaces at the early stages of their life cycle, it’s important for the industry to advance technologies capable of decarbonizing existing assets, BHP Vice President Marketing Sustainability Ben Ellis said in a statement. 

The study is expected to conclude in 2026 and will focus on sites in Asia or Northern Australia. 

The steel industry is one of the hardest to decarbonize due to its the heavy dependence on coal, which is currently used as fuel to produce more than 70% of the global output. China aims to replace 15% of its output with electric arc furnaces by the end of this year. 

BHP has embarked on a number of CCUS ventures in recent years, including with ArcelorMittal and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering. 

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