We were delighted to see the C4U project referenced in Horizon Magazine, and UCL Research Associate Dr Richard Porter referenced throughout.
Read an excerpt from the article below:
Richard Porter is part of the EU-funded C4U project, which is developing this [carbon-capture] technology. Running for four years through March 2024, the project aims to test the research in steelworks in Belgium, Spain and Sweden.
If the system works and manages to scale, it would make a big difference. C4U aims for full commercial implementation in 2030.
‘Our aim is to capture and mitigate around 90% of the emissions of a steelworks,’ Porter said.
The captured CO2 would then be either stored – for example in depleted oil and natural gas fields under the sea – or used in other industrial processes, such as cement production, where the carbon isn’t re-emitted.
Carbon-capture technology, however, has its fair share of critics because it doesn’t require a fundamental rethink of how to make steel in the way that, for example, electrolysis does. Producers can simply pursue business as usual, equipping factories with carbon-capture equipment and prolonging dirty production.
Porter is aware of these critiques.
‘Hopefully carbon capture can be a steppingstone to different types of steel production,’ he said.
Retro-fitting steelworks with carbon-capture technology can reduce CO2 emissions as a stop-gap measure while fundamentally cleaner forms of steel production are introduced.
