Smart carbon

The circular carbon economy is an important concept that aims to manage the world ’ s excessive CO 2 emissions . At ArcelorMittal , in order to make steel , the business requires iron and carbon molecules . “ However , instead of digging fresh fossil carbon from the earth , we are increasingly replacing fossil carbon with green and circular carbon . We cannot have a world without carbon , but smart carbon is exactly the answer to that ,” Manfred explains .

“ We try to use carbon in a way that counterbalances the amount we extract . This is usually by taking carbon directly from end-of-life products like wood and plastics , and putting it into our operations , rather than using fresh fossil

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... it is important to note that the planned installations will take more than 1000 times more CO 2 from the air than would have been absorbed by the trees

carbon , store it and use it in such a way that it is not emitted into the atmosphere . This dual approach is what we call smart carbon .”

In practice , this process is pretty cool , and there are two projects of which the business is particularly proud : Steelanol and Torero .

The first involves a 200-million-euro bioreactor plant to convert carbonrich waste gasses to bioethanol . The company will produce 80 million liters per year for use in transport and chemical production . It is a unique project ; the first of its kind in Europe , and has been designed with variables to continually improve operational efficiencies . Torero , on the other hand , is a plant build , and will involve assembling a 35-million-