March 2, 2023 - U.S. Steel Corp. and CarbonFree Chemicals Holdings LLC have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to jointly pursue the capture of CO2 emissions generated from U.S. Steel’s Gary Works manufacturing plant using CarbonFree’s SkyCycle technology. If a definitive agreement is reached, the project is expected to capture and mineralize up to 50,000 metric tons of CO2 per year, the equivalent to carbon emissions from nearly 11,000 passenger cars.

CarbonFree’s patented SkyCycletechnology captures carbon emissions from hard-to-abate industrial sources before entering the atmosphere, converts the CO2 into the specialty chemical precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC), and produces hydrochloric acid (HCl) as a co-product.

“As we aim to widely introduce and scale our technology to industrial facilities across the globe, we are thrilled for the possibility of bringing our SkyCycle technology’s carbon capture capabilities to U.S. Steel’s Gary Works plant, one of the largest integrated steel mills in North America,” said Martin Keighley, CEO of CarbonFree. “We are committed to working closely with U. S. Steel to achieve their sustainability goals and to further our mission of helping to enable the world’s transition to net zero carbon emissions.”

Located in Gary, Indiana, U. S. Steel’s Gary Works has annual production capability of 7.5 million net tons of raw steel per year. The memorandum establishes a framework for discussions regarding the formation of a commercial venture.

"We are eager to ... explore the possibility of meaningful CO2 emission reductions in our operations in a capital efficient manner,” said Richard L. Fruehauf, senior vice president and chief strategy and sustainability officer at U. S. Steel.