STEPWISE is a solid sorption technology for CO2 capture from fuel gases in combination with water-gas shift and acid gas removal. The main objectives of the proposed STEPWISE project is to scale up the technology for the CO2 capture from Blast Furnace Gases (BFG) with three overall demonstration goals in comparison to state-of-the-art amine-based technologies: • Higher carbon capture rate – i.e. lower carbon intensity, 85% reduction • Higher energy efficiency – i.e. lower energy consumption for capture (SPECCA ), 60% reduction • Better economy – i.e. lower cost of CO2 avoided, 25% reduction The STEPWISE project will achieve this by the construction and the operation of a pilot test installation at a blast furnace site enabling the technology to reach TRL6 as the next step in the research, development and demonstration trajectory. Hence further reducing the risk of scaling up the technology. The STEPWISE project has the potential to decrease CO2 emissions worldwide by 2.1Gt/yr based on current emission levels. The conservative estimate is that by 2050, a potential cost saving of 750 times the research costs for this project will be realized each year every year, with a much larger potential. The overall objective is to secure jobs in the highly competitive European steel industry, a sector employing 360 thousand skilled people with an annual turnover of €170 billion.

INITIATE proposes a novel symbiotic process to produce urea from steel residual gases. The project will demonstrate a reduction in; primary energy intensity of 30%; carbon footprint of 95%; the raw material intensity of 40%; and waste production of 90%. Additional to this level of reduction, the concept represents a positive business case. INITIATE will demonstrate operating reliability and technology-based innovations in a real industrial setting at TRL7 by producing urea NH3 from steel residual gases as part of three test campaigns spanning six weeks each. The reduction in primary energy intensity, carbon footprint, raw material intensity and waste production will be assessed and verified on a regional and European level by advanced dynamic modelling and Life Cycle Assessment commiserated with ISO 14404 guidelines. The project will develop a commercial implementation roadmap for immediate deployment of INITIATE after project conclusion and for ensuring roll-out of INITIATE and similar symbiotic systems. Designing a robust and bankable first-of-a-kind commercial plant to produce urea from residual steel gases will allow implementation after project conclusion. Long term roll-out will be enabled by defining collaborative strategy for stakeholders alignment to implement INITIATE and similar symbiotic systems. Finally, effective and inclusive communication and dissemination of project results are maximized by organizing summer schools and creation of Massive Open Online Course. INITIATE will take advantage of a consortium spanning the full value chain, including major steel and urea industrial players (Arcelor Mittal, SSAB, Stamicarbon, NextChem), functional material suppliers (Johnson Matthey, Kisuma Chemicals), multi-disciplinary researchers (TNO, POLIMI, Radboud University) and experienced promoters of CCUS, circularity and symbiosis topics to public (CO2 Value Europe).

The FReSMe project, From Residual Steel gases to Methanol, will produce a methanol that will be demonstrated in ship transportation. This green fuel will be produced from CO2, recovered from an industrial Blast Furnace, and H2 recovered both from the blast furnace gas itself, as well as H2 produced by electrolysis. The two different sources of H2 will enable (i) maximum use of the current residual energy content of blast furnace gas, while at the same time (ii) demonstrating a forward technology path where low carbon or renewable H2 become more ubiquitous. The project will make use of the existing equipment from two pilot plants, one for the energy efficient separation of H2 and CO2 from blast furnace gas, and one for the production of methanol from a CO2-H2 syngas stream. This can be realised with a small amount of extra equipment, including supplemental H2 production from an electrolyser and a H2/N2 separation unit from commercially available equipment. Methanol is a high volume platform chemical of universal use in chemical industry as well as applicable for fuelling internal combustion engines. As such it provides a promising pathway for the large scale re-use of CO2 to decarbonize the transportation and chemical sectors in Europe and decrease the dependence on fossil fuel imports. Production of methanol from CO2 offers the unique combination of scale, efficiency and economic value necessary to achieve large scale carbon reduction targets. The pilot plant will run for a total of three months divided over three different runs with a nominal production rate of up to 50 kg/hr from an input of 800 m3/hr blast furnace gas. This size is commensurate with operation at TRL6, where all the essential steps in the process must be joined together in an industrial environment. The project will address the new integration options that this technology has within the Iron and Steel industry and contains supplementary and supporting research of underlying phenomena.

C4U is a holistic interdisciplinary project involving the collaboration with 8 European countries and Mission Innovation Countries, Canada, China and USA aimed at addressing all the essential elements required for the optimal integration of CO2 capture in the iron and steel industry as part of the CCUS chain. This spans demonstration of highly efficient CO2 capture technologies at TRL7 designed for optimal integration into an iron and steel plant and detailed consideration of the safety, environmental, societal, policy and business aspects for successful incorporation into the North Sea Port CCUS cluster. The above involves the elevation from TRL5 to TRL7 two highly energy-efficient high-temperature solid-sorbent CO2 capture technologies for decarbonising blast furnace gas and other carbon containing gases. In addition, the C4U project assesses the societal readiness and analyses the optimal design for full-scale integration of such technologies in industrial plants operated by the world’s largest iron and steel manufacturer, ArcelorMittal. For the first time, in combination, these two technologies will target up to 90% of the total emissions from the steel plant that come from a variety of sources. Using a whole system approach, we account for the impact of the quality of the captured CO2 on the safety and operation of the CO2 pipeline transportation and storage infrastructure whilst exploring utilisation opportunities based on integration into the North Sea Port CCUS industrial cluster. A candidate for the fourth Union list of Projects of Common Interest2, CO2TransPorts aims to establish the necessary infrastructure to facilitate the large-scale capture, transport and storage of CO2 from three of the most important ports in Europe; North Sea, Rotterdam and Antwerp and to transport and store up to 10 Mt/yr of CO2 per year.