A recent MOU signed by Arcelor Mittal and the Spanish Government has resulted in a 1.18-billion-dollar investment in decarbonization technologies at Arcelor Mittal Asturias’ plant in Gijón, Spain. The new DRI and EAF installations at the Asturias plant will enable Arcelor Mittal Sestao to become the world’s first full-scale zero carbon-emissions steel plant.

With an investment of 1.9 million dollars, Arcelor Mittal and Sekisui Chemical have collaborated for a project which will focus on capturing and re-using carbon waste gases from the steelmaking process. Sekisui Chemical’s new technology that converts CO2 to carbon monoxide will also be tested at Arcelor Mittal’s laboratory in Spain.

In nature, there are microorganisms that produce hydrogen. To do this, they use special enzymes called hydrogenases. An international team of researchers has now studied this process in more detail. The findings are a foundation for the energy-efficient production of hydrogen as a sustainable energy carrier.

The European industry is hopeful that the recently launched ‘Fit for 55 Package’, an extensive legislative package that revises all EU climate and energy legislation, will enable the region to become an attractive destination for investments into climate-neutral and circular technologies. With this move, Europe aims to lead the global race to climate neutrality by 2050.

BASF and Eni have entered into a strategic agreement and launched a joint R&D initiative to reduce the CO2 footprint of the transportation sector. Together, the companies aim at developing a new sustainable technology to produce advanced bio-propanol from glycerin.

Under a MOU, Exxon Mobil will be participating in the Acorn carbon capture and storage project (CCS) in Scotland which aims to capture and store 5-6 million tons of CO2 per year by 2030 from gas terminals. The oil and gas company has also joined the Neccus Carbon Capture Alliance which aims at reducing carbon emissions from industrial facilities in Scotland.

Under the Hybrit initiative, SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall have produced the world’s first hydrogen-reduced sponge iron at a pilot plant in Luleå, Sweden. The technological breakthrough aims to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from the steelmaking process.

The ‘MACBETH’ project aims to develop technologies that make important large-scale reactions, such as hydroformylation, significantly more energy efficient. Claimed to be the largest EU-funded research project coordinated by Specialty Chemical Company Evonik, the project has the potential to revolutionize large-scale reactions in the chemical industry.

PROCESS Worldwide brings to you the ‘Top 10 plant engineering projects of June 2021’ from all over the world. Right from constructing the largest advanced plastics recycling unit in the world to launching an innovative EPS recycling plant in Europe, find out all the projects making headlines here.

Plug Power plans to invest 84 million dollars for establishing a green hydrogen production unit in Camden County, Georgia, USA. The project aims to develop the first North American green hydrogen supply network which will extend across the entire East Coast of the U.S.