Nucor announced that it has signed an agreement with ExxonMobil to capture, transport, and store carbon from the company’s direct reduced iron (DRI) plant in Convent, Louisiana. ExxonMobil will capture up to 800,000 metric tons per year of CO2 from the DRI plant and store the CO2 at an ExxonMobil-owned facility in Louisiana.
“This transformative CCS [carbon capture and storage] project with ExxonMobil is a key part of our decarbonization strategy and will result in some of the lowest embodied carbon DRI or HBI [hot briquetted iron] in North America,” said Leon Topalian, Nucor’s CEO. “We are taking a multifaceted approach to decarbonization, and this partnership builds on previous investments we have made in a carbon-free iron startup, renewable energy generation, and the development of small modular nuclear reactor technology.”
The project is expected to start up in 2026 and supports Louisiana’s objective of reaching net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050.
“This collaboration with Nucor is the latest example of how we’re delivering on our mission to help accelerate the world’s path to net zero,” said Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon at ExxonMobil. “We look forward to applying our technology and expertise to reducing emissions for Nucor.”
With its recycling-based production method, Nucor is already one of the cleanest steelmakers in the world. The circular nature of remelting recycled scrap in electric arc furnaces means that Nucor’s steel mills generate roughly two-thirds less carbon dioxide than extractive blast furnace steelmaking plants, even when accounting for Scope 3 emissions, which include all upstream and downstream emissions in the supply chain. Nucor is one of the first steel companies to disclose its Scope 3 emissions.