ArcelorMittal tells Kallanish that it will invest €1 billion ($1.18 billion) in decarbonisation technologies at its Spanish plant in Gijón. The company`s commitment is to reduce CO2 emissions at local operations by almost 50% or up to 4.8 million tonnes within the next five years.

“ArcelorMittal signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Spain`s government with the commitment to transition towards a decarbonised steel industry,” the company says.

The MoU was signed at an event in the ArcelorMittal Asturias’ plant in Gijón, which was attended by the president of Spain, Pedro Sánchez and ArcelorMittal chairman Lakshmi Mittal and the company`s ceo Aditya Mittal.

The plan includes the building of a 2.3m t/y green hydrogen direct reduced iron (DRI) unit, complemented by a 1.1m t/y hybrid electric arc furnace (EAF). The new DRI unit, which will be the first of its kind in Spain, and EAF are estimated to be operational before the end of 2025. The Gijón DRI will also feed the company’s Sestao plant (see related article).

 “The construction of the new green hydrogen DRI plant in Gijón will not only enable us to reduce emissions from our Spanish operations by half but will also result in the world’s first full-scale zero carbon-emissions steel plant in Sestao,” Aditya Mittal confirms.

The support of the national and regional authorities will enable ArcelorMittal to have access to green hydrogen supplied through a consortium of companies that will cooperate in the construction of the infrastructure required to produce hydrogen in the Iberian Peninsula using solar-powered electrolysis and to transport it directly through a network of pipelines.

The initiative involves the construction of multiple large-scale solar farms, with hydrogen produced in situ and with the corresponding impact in terms of employment. ArcelorMittal will also further intensify its research and development (R&D) unit activities in the country to support the new project and innovation requirements.

Earlier this year, ArcelorMittal Asturias completed its project to capture hydrogen-rich coke oven gas and re-inject it into the blast furnace, replacing some of the coke used in the blast furnace.

ArcelorMittal Europe has a target to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030, and an ambition to be net-zero by 2050.