On March 12, ArcelorMittal, the second largest steel producer in the world, announced that its XCarb™ Innovation Fund will cooperate with NEU’s Energy and Environmental Materials Research Center (E2MC) of College of Metallurgy to launch its Accelerator Programme in China in order to fund and support the next wave of breakthrough ideas on decarbonisation emerging in China.
It is reported that XCarb® Accelerator Programme in China focuses on investment in the breakthrough innovation technology which helps the steel industry achieve carbon neutrality. The core areas focused on include breakthrough low-carbon steel production technology, carbon capture, utilization and storage technology, energy storage technology (industrial-grade long-term energy storage), and waste resource utilization technology (including biomass conversion path, high-value utilization of steel by-products and waste heat recovery in the steel industry). The maturity level of these technologies should reach TRL4 or above.
In the future, E2MC, led by Professor Ali Kamali from College of Metallurgy will cooperate with ArcelorMittal and innovative start-ups in China to jointly promote the Accelerator Programme and contribute to the development of decarbonization ironmaking technology.
