Nucor Corporation has signed an agreement with ExxonMobil to capture, transport, and store carbon from the company’s direct reduced iron (DRI) plant in Convent, Louisiana, according to a news release.
ExxonMobil will capture up to 800,000 mtpy of CO2 from the DRI plant and store the CO2 at an ExxonMobil-owned facility in Louisiana. The project is expected to start-up in 2026 and supports Louisiana’s objective of reaching net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050.
With its recycling-based production method, Nucor is one of the cleanest steelmakers in the world, the release states. The circular nature of remelting recycled scrap in electric arc furnaces means that Nucor’s steel mills generate roughly two-thirds less than the carbon dioxide of 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. This carbon capture and storage agreement with ExxonMobil furthers Nucor’s status as a sustainability leader and builds on the innovation that has enabled the company to produce steel and steel products with low embodied carbon.
