Solving for Climate Guillaume Lambotte: Inside the race to decarbonise steel
Jun 10, 2025
Guillaume Lambotte, Chief Scientist at Boston Metal, is at the forefront of revolutionizing steel production to combat climate change. He discusses the steel industry's significant carbon footprint and the promising innovation of molten oxide electrolysis. Lambotte emphasizes that while decarbonizing this age-old industry won't happen overnight, even minor emission reductions can make a big difference for our planet. He also addresses the need for a universal framework to support sustainable practices in steel manufacturing.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Steel Emissions and Challenges
- Steel production causes about 7% of global CO2 emissions, more than twice that of aviation.
- It is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonize due to its reliance on fossil fuels and intense chemical processes.
How MOE Decarbonizes Steel
- Boston Metal uses molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) to make steel by an electrochemical process instead of carbon reduction.
- This process produces iron and oxygen, not CO2, replacing the blast furnace's coal-based chemical reactions with electricity.
MOE: Quiet and Clean Process
- MOE reactors are modular, quiet, and clean operating at high temperatures but with no noisy mechanical parts.
- Visitors are surprised how silent and dust-free the process is compared to the traditional blast furnace.