One of the largest steel manufacturers in the United States of America getting serious about reducing their carbon emissions.
What’s happening:
- United States Steel (NYSE: X) has announced a new partnership with CarbonFree to capture carbon emissions from their steel manufacturing operations
How it works:
- CarbonFree will use their proprietary technology known as SkyCycle to capture carbon emissions which are generated at United States Steel Gary Works Blast Furnaces
- SkyCycle is able to capture carbon emissions directly at the source of manufacturing before they enter the atmosphere and convert them into a carbon neutral version of calcium carbonate
- The resulting calcium carbonate can then be upcycled as feedstock into the production of new materials such as paper and plastic
By the numbers:
- The partnership between CarbonFree and United States Steel is expected to capture approximately 50,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year
- 50,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions is roughly equivalent to the total emissions of 12,000 fossil fuel powered vehicles
- United States Steel is aiming to reduce their total carbon footprint of all of their operations by 20% by the end of the decade
Going deeper:
- Finding ways to decarbonize steel production has been an emerging area of opportunity for venture backed startups, which has led to innovative new approaches such as leveraging renewable energy to avoid carbon dioxide emissions
