According to the announcement, researchers at the project’s pilot-scale facility were able to transform off-gases generated during routine mill operations into ammonia, a feedstock for a number of other chemicals. 

“Our Carbon2Chem concept has shown that it is possible to use steel mill gases for the production of various chemicals and thus achieve a circular carbon economy,” said Reinhold Achatz, head of technology at thyssenkrupp. “Our goal is the large-scale industrial use of the technology.”

The Carbon2Chem project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, but coordinated by thyssenkrupp in partnership with research organizations Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the Max Planck Society, aims to recycle the steel industry’s carbon emissions by converting them into so-called synthesis gases, such as methanol and ammonia. 

“In the chemical industry, synthesis gases have so far been obtained from fossil fuels such as natural gas or coal. Carbon2Chem not only converts the carbon dioxide contained in the steel mill emissions, but also saves the CO₂ arising when synthesis gas is produced from fossil carbon sources,” Carbon2Chem officials said. 

The achievement builds on one reached last year, when projects researchers reported that they had converted offgas into methanol. 

You can find Carbon2Chem’s full announcement here.