Could Electrified Biomethane DRI Make Steel Production Carbon-Negative? - CleanTechnica

The article explores the potential of electrified biomethane-based direct reduced iron (DRI) technology as a pathway to carbon-negative steel production. Unlike traditional blast furnaces that rely on coal and coke, DRI uses hydrogen-rich gases to remove oxygen from iron ore, typically sourced from natural gas. Replacing natural gas with biomethane—a renewable methane derived from biomass waste—and electrifying process heat can reduce gas consumption by 20-25%, improve efficiency, and facilitate full decarbonization. The process yields a high-purity CO2 stream ideal for capture and sequestration, and when combined with biomass-derived carbon, this can result in net negative emissions by actively removing CO2 from the atmosphere. The article highlights a practical example in the Netherlands, where Tata’s specialty steel plant near Amsterdam produces 6-7 million tons of steel annually and could supply nearly all the biogenic CO2 needed by the country’s greenhouse sector, which currently consumes 5 million tons of CO2 per year