Helix Carbon has developed a process to recycle blast furnace exhaust, converting waste carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide to reduce coke usage and lower production costs for iron producers. The company claims its technology can cut emissions and improve profit margins in the steel industry.
The iron and steel industries are major global polluters, and Helix Carbon's technology offers a potential pathway to reduce their carbon footprint while simultaneously lowering production costs for iron producers, addressing a critical need for sustainable and profitable industrial processes.
Helix Carbon is proposing a novel approach to reduce emissions and costs in the iron and steel industries by recycling blast furnace exhaust. Unlike other startups focused on developing entirely new methods for metal production, Helix Carbon aims to clean up existing blast furnaces.
The company's process utilizes an electrolyzer to convert waste carbon dioxide (CO2) from blast furnaces into carbon monoxide (CO). This CO is then reinjected into the furnace, where it can act as a reducing agent, thereby decreasing the need for coke, a processed form of coal. Blast furnaces traditionally rely on coke for heat and carbon monoxide generated from its combustion to strip oxygen from iron ore.
According to Helix Carbon's co-founder and CEO David Brown, the amount of coke that can be replaced varies, with scientific papers suggesting reductions between 30% and 90%. Helix Carbon suggests an initial replacement of 33% of coke, which it estimates could save iron producers $14 per ton of iron. Brown highlighted that these savings are significant given the typically thin profit margins in the iron industry.
The iron and steel industries represent a combined $2 trillion market. Helix Carbon plans to generate revenue sooner by targeting the specialty chemicals sector, utilizing waste streams to produce chemicals on-site without the need for prior CO2 capture. The company presented its technology at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.
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