Rio Tinto and Shougang Group have commissioned an industrial-scale carbon capture trial at Shougang's Jingtang base in China. The facility can process up to 3,000 cubic meters of blast furnace gas per hour and capture up to 10,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, following a smaller installation from 2024. The partners are also exploring conversion of captured CO2 into syngas for reuse in steelmaking. The trial is part of a 2022 memorandum of understanding focused on cutting emissions across the steel value chain. While 10,000 tonnes per year is modest relative to total blast furnace emissions, the project is significant because it moves from pilot scale to industrial integration and tests whether carbon capture can work inside a real ironmaking system. For those tracking steel decarbonization, the key details are the processing capacity, the integration into Shougang's ironmaking system, and whether the syngas route becomes cost effective. The commissioning was also reported by Reuters, adding confirmation of the stated capacity figures.
