Anglo American is partnering with the University of Birmingham and venture-builder Cambridge Future Tech to launch PeroCycle, a new venture aimed at developing and commercializing carbon recycling technology for implementation in steelmaking. PeroCycle will build upon innovations made at the University of Birmingham’s School of Chemical Engineering by Professor Yulong Ding and Dr Harriet Kildahl, who pioneered an in-process carbon recycling method with the use of a double perovskite material. The use of the material enables the in-process splitting of carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide at considerably lower temperatures than current methods.

The technology was described in a 2023 open-access paper in the Journal of Cleaner Production.

We present here a first-principles study of the sector coupling between a thermochemical carbon dioxide (CO₂) splitting cycle and existing blast furnace – basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) steel making for cost-effective decarbonisation. A double perovskite, Ba₂Ca_0.66Nb_0.34FeO₆, is proposed for the thermochemical splitting of CO₂, a viable candidate due to its low reaction temperatures, high carbon monoxide (CO) yields, and 100% selectivity towards CO.

The CO produced by the TC cycle replaces expensive metallurgical coke for the reduction of iron ore to metallic iron in the blast furnace (BF). The CO₂ produced from the BF is used in the TC cycle to produce more CO, therefore creating a closed carbon loop, allowing for the decoupling of steel production from greenhouse gas emissions.

Techno-economic analysis of the implementation of this system in UK BF-BOFs could reduce steel sector emissions by 88% while increasing the cost-competitiveness of UK steel on the global market through cost reduction. After five years, this system would save the UK steel industry £1.28 billion while reducing UK-wide emissions by 2.9%. Implementation of this system in the world’s BF-BOFs could allow the steel sector to decarbonise in line with the Paris Climate Agreement to limit warming to 1.5 °C.

—Kildahl et al.

The carbon monoxide could then be recycled in a closed loop as a substitute for coal or coke currently used in the steelmaking process, in turn significantly reducing the volume of carbon dioxide emissions. Cambridge Future Tech, working with Anglo American, will lead the spin-out and development of PeroCycle, de-risking its path to commercial applications.

The steel sector currently accounts for around 8% of global carbon emissions. We are excited to work with Anglo American and Cambridge Future Tech to commercialize our novel technology and provide a potential alternative technical solution to enable a deep decarbonisation of the steel sector, and beyond.

—Professor Yulong Ding, founding Chamberlain Chair of Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham

Resources

• Harriet Kildahl, Li Wang, Lige Tong, Yulong Ding, Cost effective decarbonisation of blast furnace – basic oxygen furnace steel production through thermochemical sector coupling, Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 389, 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.135963.