The study identified where to optimise purity, energy and logistics to improve the process’s environmental viability.
Where this project comes from
This project began in a high-stakes context. CELSA is one of Europe’s major steel producers — a material that’s critical to the economy and, at the same time, resource-intensive, with a historically high environmental impact, particularly linked to extraction and the use of fossil materials.
Against that backdrop, exploring an alternative to the traditional use of anthracite in the steelmaking process is no small move. The decision to analyse biochar as an alternative material came from wanting to understand, with rigorous data, what a deep change to a key process would really mean. Not from a promise, but from evidence — and at a pilot stage, where there’s still room to adjust, learn and redirect. Comparing before scaling up makes it possible to steer innovation towards solutions with real environmental potential.
What it changes, and why it matters
The comparative LCA between biochar and anthracite puts figures to a debate that, without data, would stay in the realm of intuition. The study confirms that biochar has clear potential to reduce environmental impact compared with the fossil material, particularly for climate change and fossil resource use.
Biochar showed clear potential to reduce climate impact and fossil resource use compared with anthracite. But the value of the exercise goes beyond the direct comparison. The LCA maps out the full picture of impacts, surfacing less obvious factors: how much the purity of the input material matters, the weight of certain stages of the production process, and the significant influence of raw-material logistics. Factors not always seen as strategic, but that decisively shape the final environmental result.
How we do it
At Spora, the project was approached as a cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment, aligned with ISO 14040 and 14044 and the European Commission’s Environmental Footprint methodology. The study was designed to assess the biochar developed under an R&D project, projecting its environmental performance in an industrial-scale production scenario.
The LCA made it possible to analyse different raw-material preparation scenarios, assess energy consumption, emissions and waste, and compare biochar’s environmental performance against anthracite. Rather than offering a closed answer, the study precisely identifies where optimisation efforts should be concentrated for the process to be technically and environmentally viable.
Limits, lessons, and the future it sets in motion
This project doesn’t aim to close the debate — it aims to open it with rigour. The LCA doesn’t decide on its own whether to adopt an alternative, but it prevents poorly-directed decisions and keeps the focus on what genuinely matters: material quality, process efficiency and logistical coherence.
The future it sets in motion is ambitious. Moving towards climate neutrality in a sector like steelmaking will only be possible through innovative solutions that challenge current processes. This LCA lays a solid foundation for continuing to explore alternatives like biochar — not as an isolated experiment, but as part of a deep, informed, strategic transformation of the steel industry. Transforming the steel industry requires testing alternatives with data, not just with promises.