Steel Mills

Algoma Gets Grant for Greenhouse Gas Reduction

August 20, 2020

Algoma Steel has been awarded a $4 million grant to upgrade its equipment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The funding was provided by Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Fund and will be used to improve both the tar-removal and light-oil-recovery areas of its coke-making plant in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. This process will not only help reduce greenhouse gas emissions but will also help improve local air quality. Additional funding will be provided by Algoma Steel.

The $16 million project is expected to cut 21,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases on an annual basis and approximately 596,000 tons over the project’s 30-year lifespan.

“The funding provided through the low-carbon economy fund made it possible for Algoma Steel to modernize our tar and light oil plant, and shrink our carbon footprint,” said Algoma CEO Mike McQuade. “Through this project, we’ll optimize the capture and removal of tar and lead oils that are suspended within the coke oven gas. This in turn reduces the carbon content of the coke oven gas, making it cleaner fuel when recycled in other plant combustion processes.”

The project is part of the Canada’s climate plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and one of three projects that Algoma is undertaking as part of that goal. In 2019, the company completed the rebuilding of a blast furnace and installing a boiler preheater. McQuade said the three projects will result in a 2 percent annual reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and will “bring us one step closer to that goal.”

Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, noted that the project will create jobs in the region. “As Canada safely reopens, our government is making strategic investments to stimulate local economies, create local jobs, and fight climate change,” said Wilkerson. “This investment through the Low Carbon Economy Fund will support Algoma Steel’s efforts to switch to clean technology and will create new manufacturing and construction jobs for the people living in Sault Ste. Marie. This is an excellent example of how Canada will build back better following the pandemic.”