Helix Carbon Develops Technology to Recycle Blast Furnace Emissions into Cheaper Iron Production
Helix Carbon is tackling carbon emissions in the iron and steel industry by developing a method that recycles waste CO2 from blast furnaces back into usable carbon monoxide. Instead of replacing traditional blast furnace technology, which has been used for centuries to produce iron using coke, Helix's approach uses an electrolyzer to convert exhaust CO2 directly into carbon monoxide without the need for purification. This allows steel producers to reduce their reliance on coal-based coke by up to 30-90%, depending on studies cited. The company estimates that replacing just one-third of the coke used in production could save iron manufacturers $14 per ton, a significant margin boost given the industry's notoriously thin profit margins. The global steel and iron market is valued at around $2 trillion, but adoption may be slow due to the long lifespan of blast furnaces. To accelerate revenue generation before scaling into the broader steel sector, Helix Carbon plans to target the specialty chemicals industry first by using waste CO2 directly on-site for chemical production.
Topics: carbon emissions clean energy decarbonization steel industry