The iron and steel industry represents the largest energy-consuming manufacturing sector in the world. This enormous CO₂ footprint of steel mills, which accounts for up to 8% of anthropogenic CO₂ emissions must be reduced.

Given the urgency of emission reductions, the very different characteristics of the CO₂ containing streams emanating from steel plants and the huge quantities of CO₂ involved, a portfolio of promising CO₂ capture technologies must be developed and practically tested to high TRL to identify the optimal integration solutions that deliver the minimum cost and energy consumption.

Funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 programme, C⁴U is an interdisciplinary project aiming for full integration of CO₂ capture in the iron and steel industry, looking at two highly efficient CO₂ capture technologies. It has a detailed consideration of the safety, environmental, societal, policy and business aspects for successful incorporation into the North Sea Port CCUS industrial cluster in Belgium and the Netherlands.

The C⁴U Project provides a number of opportunities for people local to industrial sites and interested researchers, technology developers and investors to learn about, engage with and influence the ongoing work in the project. 

Read more on the project site here: https://c4u-project.eu/

The C⁴U project aims to achieve four headline research objectives: 

• Elevate two CO₂ capture technologies, known as DISPLACE and CASOH, from TRL5 to TRL7 & design for optimal integration in the steel industry, 
• Analyse the economic, environmental and business impacts and opportunities of applying CCUS in a large-scale steel plant in the North Sea Port industrial cluster, 
• Develop and test approaches with stakeholders and end-users to assess and advance societal readiness for CCUS in industrial clusters, 
• Ensure that the project’s results are exploited to the full extent and disseminated to relevant stakeholders to facilitate the large-scale rollout of CCUS.

The project consortium is coordinated by University College London, but also includes Swerim AB, Stichting Katholieke Universiteit, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Arcelormittal Innovacion Investigacion E Inversion SL, ArcelorMittal Belgium NV, University of Manchester, Politecnico di Milano, Nederlandse Organisatie Voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek TNO, Element Energy Ltd, Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Institut National de l’Environnement Industriel et des, The Centre for European Policy Studies, Amec Foster Wheeler Italiana SRL, Carmeuse Research and Technology SA, Climate Strategies, Johnson Matthey Plc, University of Sheffield, Kisuma Chemicals BV, British Steel Ltd and Dalian University of Technology.