United States Steel Corporation (U.S. Steel) and CarbonFree Chemicals Holdings, LLC (CarbonFree) have signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to capture CO2 emitted from U.S. Steel’s Gary Works manufacturing plant using CarbonFree’s SkyCycle technology. The project is slated to capture and mineralize up to 50,000 metric tons of CO2 per year following a definitive agreement. 

CarbonFree’s modular, scalable technology captures carbon emissions from hard-to-abate industrial sources before entering the atmosphere. It then turns the CO2 into precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) and produces hydrochloric acid (HCI) as a co-product. 

PCC is used for a variety of industrial purposes, including paper, plastics, ceramics, paints, coating, adhesives, sealants, rubber, and cleaning products. Furthermore, CO2 converted to calcium carbonate can be permanently stored as an environmentally friendly mineral. 

“As we aim to widely introduce and scale our technology to industrial facilities across the globe, we are thrilled for the possibility of bringing our SkyCycle technology’s carbon capture capabilities to U. S. Steel’s Gary Works plant, one of the largest integrated steel mills in North America,” said Martin Keighley, CEO of CarbonFree. “We are committed to working closely with U. S. Steel to achieve their sustainability goals and to further our mission of helping to enable the world’s transition to net zero carbon emissions.”

“We are eager to enter the next phase of discussions with CarbonFree to explore the possibility of meaningful CO2 emission reductions in our operations in a capital-efficient manner,” said Richard L. Fruehauf, SVP – Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer at U. S. Steel. 

“Working with CarbonFree could be a meaningful step in our efforts to decarbonize the Gary Works plant while developing technology and know-how that we could apply to other facilities within our footprint. These potential collaborations are critical to U. S. Steel as we continue our mission of providing profitable steel solutions for people and planet.”

Photo: Business Wire