Luxembourg-headquartered global steel producer ArcelorMittal has announced that it has invested $5 million in US-based Utility Global through its XCarb® Innovation Fund as part of Utility Global’s $53 million Series C fundraising round.
Utility Global has developed a reactor which processes variable industrial process gases, without the use of electricity, into high-purity hydrogen and a concentrated carbon stream that can be captured and stored. The hydrogen produced can be recirculated into the steelmaking process to replace natural gas, while the purity of the concentrated carbon stream significantly reduces the cost of subsequent carbon capture and sequestration - an important solution for decarbonizing steelmaking.
In addition to the investment, ArcelorMittal has signed a collaboration agreement to use the given technology to seize the opportunity to host pilot plants at ArcelorMittal facilities and transform one of its integrated steel plants into a large-scale commercial facility.