Nucor and the University of Kentucky Receive Federal Grant for Carbon Capture R&D at Gallatin Mill

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Apr 22, 2022, 09:23 ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) is partnering with the University of Kentucky (UK) Research Foundation to test an innovative carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture system at Nucor Steel Gallatin. This is one of 12 research projects being funded by a Department of Energy grant to advance point-source carbon capture and storage technologies that can capture CO₂emissions generated from natural gas power plants and industrial facilities which produce commodities like cement and steel.

Industry/university partnerships like the one between Nucor and UK are not new but are vital for piloting and successfully implementing new technology. More than 50 industry and university experts are working together to tackle the difficult challenge of applying carbon capture and sequestration techniques to an electric arc furnace steel making process. Once this pilot is complete Nucor and UK will have a better understanding of the costs and effectiveness of carbon capture technology for flue gas with low CO₂ content and the feasibility of replication of this technology at other electric arc furnace steel mills.

"Nucor teammates, along with researchers at the University of Kentucky Research Foundation, recognized that to reach specific carbon reduction goals at industrial facilities, technologies like carbon sequestration need to become economically feasible," said Nucor Steel Gallatin General Manager, Scott Laurenti. "We are very excited to work with the experts at UK to pilot and evaluate carbon capture technology at Nucor Steel Gallatin."

"The successful construction and testing of this heat-integrated carbon capture process at Nucor Steel Gallatin shows great potential in lowering energy consumption at industrial sectors in Kentucky and across the nation," said Kunlei Liu, principal investigator of the project and UK College of Engineering faculty member. "We at UK are fully committed to work with our industrial supporters and collaborators to fulfill their environmental goals while managing the associated costs."

This project is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) (DE-FOA-0002515 1^st Closing).

About Nucor

Nucor and its affiliates are manufacturers of steel and steel products, with operating facilities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Products produced include: carbon and alloy steel -- in bars, beams, sheet and plate; hollow structural section tubing; electrical conduit; steel racking; steel piling; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; fabricated concrete reinforcing steel; cold finished steel; precision castings; steel fasteners; metal building systems; insulated metal panels; steel grating; and wire and wire mesh. Nucor, through The David J. Joseph Company, also brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron and hot briquetted iron / direct reduced iron; supplies ferro-alloys; and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap. Nucor is North America's largest recycler.

SOURCE Nucor Corporation