Rebecca Dell explains the emissions intensity of conventional coal-based blast furnace steelmaking on Catalyst with Shayle Kann.
Assertion Supported
Dell: No steel company is commercializing large-scale blast furnace carbon capture
“There's very little going on in the world of carbon capture in the steel industry right now. There are a there are no large-scale efforts to commercialize this technology. Like, there isn't a single steel company anywhere in the world that's like, we're gonna …”
Insight
Dell: Urea Production Should Not Count as Meaningful CO2 Utilization
“A lot of people point to this as, like, the most important CO₂ utilization that is already commercialized in our economy, but that's actually a really problematic way of thinking about it, because the way you make urea, you start with a pure concentrated point…”
Assertion Contradicted
Dell: Steelmaking emits more greenhouse gases than anything except electricity
“Making steel emits more greenhouse gases than anything else except making electricity.”
Assertion Contradicted
Dell: Electrifying a single standard steel mill requires four gigawatts of power
“If you were to fully electrify this process, that might be something like four gigawatts of electricity. Average load. Not peak load. Average load. So we're talking about, like, four nuclear power stations to run one normie steel mill.”
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Dell: Boston Metal's commercial iron cell should deploy in one to two years
“We're still waiting for the commercial deployment of the sort of the actual iron-making cell, which should come in the next, I think, year or two, but honestly, you would know better than me.”
Opinion
Dell: Mass timber substitution is viable only in North America and Northern Europe
“Really, like, North America and maybe some small parts of Northern Europe are the only places in the world that, like, have the trees. And Everywhere else, if you did that, you would be driving deforestation that would make the whole thing counterproductive.”