ArcelorMittal Innovación, Investigación e Inversión, S.L.U. (AMIII) is the legal entity under which the Group’s R&D Centre located in Avilés, Asturias, operates. Its mission is to improve the efficiency of the integrated steelmaking process from all perspectives: environmental performance, occupational safety, logistics, enhancement of technical equipment, etc. Therefore, it is a global centre, as it has a multidisciplinary team of researchers capable of providing solutions to the needs of ArcelorMittal plants worldwide.
The R&D Centre is fully integrated within the innovation ecosystem of Asturias through an extensive network of agreements with the regional government, universities, and other knowledge-related entities.
Since its creation in 2008, the R&D Centre has participated in numerous national and international research projects focused on the development of new steels/processes and new sustainable solutions for the steel sector, with the aim of meeting the needs of the Group by increasing the efficiency of production processes through highly innovative solutions. At the same time, it promotes projects focused on sustainability, digitalisation of the economy, decarbonisation, energy efficiency and circularity, as well as research activities within the Principality of Asturias and knowledge transfer to other Technology Centres and public and private entities in the region with which it collaborates.
In addition, the centre includes an area dedicated to exploring future medium- and long-term technological opportunities that are not yet part of the steel industry, promoting a strong positioning as a driver of change in the steel sector in fields such as Industry 4.0 (robotics, smart devices, Big Data, among others), new production processes and/or new materials and products (nanotechnology, research into new graphene applications), additive manufacturing, and the development and application of biotechnological tools.
Complementing this strong commitment to R&D, there is also a comprehensive R&D&I management services area known as SteelBlock, also referred to as the “Steel Apple”, which is highly relevant for both the R&D Centre and the Group, as it enables semi-industrial testing that is often not feasible in real industrial environments. The facilities consist of different pilot plants interconnected within a pilot factory, where industrial processes are reproduced at scale.
This area includes ArcelorMittal’s Steel Laboratory (SLAB) in Avilés, which concentrates facilities related to sampling, testing, and development of metallic products, as well as a site known as “Satellite”, which hosts office space and the main workshop area of the SteelBlock.
Finally, within this research system, ArcelorMittal also has facilities located at the Group’s plant in Sestao (Biscay), focused on the research and development of new steel products and processes for electric arc furnace steelmaking and the construction sector. This includes several pilot plants and leading gas research facilities in Asturias (GasLab). Altogether, the centres mentioned above account for more than 12,000 m² dedicated to research activities.
The Asturias R&D Centre is an active member of several research networks, in which it plays a key role in research programmes at both national and international level. Evidence of the Centre’s strong research track record can be seen, on the one hand, in the numerous R&D&I projects carried out in recent years, many of them funded through public calls, and, on the other hand, in the number of researchers and technologists forming a highly qualified and well-established workforce leading projects with direct application in mining and metallurgical plants worldwide. Specifically, since becoming part of ArcelorMittal’s Global R&D network in 2008, the Centre has grown from 38 researchers and technicians to more than 200 today. Furthermore, investment efforts in collaborative R&D projects in Spain over the last three years have exceeded €37 million annually. This research capacity is enabling the company to face the enormous challenge of decarbonising the steelmaking process with confidence.
In this context, the Global R&D Centre located in Avilés plays a key role in the company’s competitiveness, opening new opportunities for growth and development within the Group. Its research activity contributes, among other aspects, to sustainable development and to improving the efficiency of production processes. Environmental improvement objectives include, on the one hand, the responsible use of water, air, soil, and all other resources and raw materials, and, on the other hand, the reduction of CO₂ emissions and, consequently, environmental impact, not only from steelmaking activities themselves but also from related activities.
To achieve these sustainability objectives, the company undertakes actions with direct industrial impact, such as the present project, whose purpose is to develop a disruptive solution for the valorisation of steelmaking gases through hydrogen production with simultaneous CO₂ capture, based on an innovative integration of catalytic reactions and regenerative sorption processes using functionalised solid beds.
- Role in ELEKTRA project
AMIII supports the development and validation of electrified reactor technologies for the iron and steel sector by providing technical expertise across the full project lifecycle. This includes contributing to performance assessment, data analysis, and material characterization, as well as supporting techno-economic evaluation. AMIII also collaborates with project partners during testing activities and actively participates in dissemination and exploitation efforts.