Carbon4PUR project: Helping carbon-intensive industries reducing GHGs emissions

The steel, cement and chemicals industries are among the biggest CO₂ emitters and account for more than two-thirds of all industrial carbon dioxide emissions in the EU.

One of the most promising solutions to reach the global climate goals is to support these industries in investing in technologies able to capture carbon dioxide before it is emitted into the atmosphere and then turn it into valuable products.

The EU-funded Carbon4PUR project studies such a solution and aims to demonstrate the possibility to recycle steel mill gases that contain CO₂ and carbon monoxide into intermediate compounds that can be used to produce insulation boards or wood coatings.

The project has delivered promising results, demonstrating the ability to convert steel mill gas mixtures into intermediate compounds for plastic polymers called polyurethanes. However, project coordinator Dr Liv Adler highlighted how this type of technology is only part of the solution — other components make up polyurethanes that could also be changed.

The INITIATE project contributes to supporting the iron and steel sector in reaching their GHGs reduction goals by their innovative industrial transformation. Our project will demonstrate the conversion of residual gas from the steel industry into valuable products. INITIATE will show how residual carbon-rich gas from the steel sector becomes a valuable feedstock for the chemical sector in an operational environment. At the same time, the cost of carbon capture is sustained, leading to a cost-efficient decarbonisation strategy. The TRL7 demonstration will combine the continuous production of N₂+H₂ and CO₂ streams, with the innovative ammonia production as a precursor for urea.

More on how carbon-intensive industries can scale up CO₂ recycling here.