Steelmakers Need Carbon. CHAR Technologies Is Trying to Replace Coal With Wood Waste.
By Stocktrade Wire
3 min readUpdated December 8, 2025
Editorial report. Primary sources are listed at the end of this page.
For all the discussion around industrial decarbonization, steel remains one of the hardest sectors to solve.
Modern steelmaking still depends heavily on metallurgical coal. Blast furnaces require carbon at enormous scale, and despite years of climate targets and ESG messaging, there are very few commercially viable alternatives that can integrate into existing industrial systems without forcing steelmakers to completely rebuild infrastructure.
That is the market CHAR Technologies is attempting to enter.
The company’s core product, CleanFyre™, is a biocarbon made primarily from wood waste through a high-temperature pyrolysis process. The output is designed to function as a partial replacement for fossil coal in steelmaking and other industrial heating applications. CHAR Technologies
The Real Opportunity Is Not “Green Steel”
The important part of this story is not sustainability branding.
The important part is that steelmakers are actively looking for drop-in carbon alternatives that work inside existing systems.
Replacing blast furnaces entirely is expensive, slow, and operationally difficult. But partially substituting fossil coal with biocarbon is much easier to test incrementally.
That is why CHAR’s relationship with ArcelorMittal matters.
ArcelorMittal Dofasco has been testing CHAR’s biocarbon in blast furnace operations since 2021. The companies later expanded the relationship through a strategic investment and supply agreement tied to larger-scale electric arc furnace trials. ArcelorMittal XCarb
Key Commercial Milestones
| Milestone | Detail |
|---|---|
| Industrial testing began | ArcelorMittal Dofasco testing since 2021 |
| Strategic investment | C$6.6M investment from ArcelorMittal XCarb Fund |
| Commercial relationship | Offtake agreement tied to Thorold facility production |
| Emissions target | Targeting ~35,000 tonnes CO₂ reduction over four years |
| Production site | Thorold, Ontario |
| Core feedstock | Wood waste / biomass residuals |
This is where the thesis starts becoming more operational than conceptual.
A lot of clean-energy companies are built around technologies that sound impressive but fail economically at industrial throughput. CHAR’s challenge is not proving that biocarbon works in theory. The challenge is producing it consistently, at scale, and at economics industrial customers are willing to adopt long term.
Why Steel Is Interested
The steel industry is under pressure from multiple directions simultaneously:
- Governments pushing industrial emissions reduction
- Carbon pricing systems
- Procurement requirements
- Investor pressure
- Automotive supply-chain standards
- Scope 3 emissions reporting
But steel producers still need carbon inputs.
That creates demand for transitional solutions that reduce emissions without requiring complete infrastructure replacement.
Natural Resources Canada previously supported blast furnace biocarbon injection trials involving ArcelorMittal Dofasco, with results showing biocarbon replacement rates up to 10% without major operational issues. Natural Resources Canada
Thorold Is the Important Asset
The Thorold Renewable Energy Facility in Ontario is the company’s most important near-term asset.
Phase 1 is expected to convert roughly 35,000 tonnes of wood waste annually into more than 5,000 tonnes of biocarbon production. Much of that material is expected to support ArcelorMittal Dofasco under the previously announced agreement. Environment Journal
Thorold Facility Snapshot
| Metric | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Annual wood waste input | ~35,000 tonnes |
| Initial biocarbon output | 5,000+ tonnes annually |
| End market | Steelmaking / industrial decarbonization |
| Future expansion plans | Additional kiln + RNG infrastructure |
| Strategic location | Ontario industrial corridor |
The broader opportunity here is not limited to a single facility.
If the economics work and industrial adoption expands, the model could theoretically scale into:
- steel
- cement
- mining
- smelting
- industrial heat applications
Those are enormous markets, but they are also operationally difficult, capital intensive, and slow-moving.
The Core Risk
The risk here is execution.
Industrial companies do not scale like software businesses. They require:
- infrastructure
- permitting
- feedstock sourcing
- logistics
- financing
- long enterprise sales cycles
A successful pilot project does not automatically translate into profitable industrial scale.
Investors also need to distinguish between:
- feasibility
- commercialization
- sustained industrial adoption
Those are very different stages.
Still, the broader trend is real.
Steelmakers are under pressure to reduce emissions, but they still need carbon-based industrial inputs. Companies attempting to provide lower-emission drop-in alternatives may become increasingly important as industrial decarbonization moves from narrative to implementation.
Sources
- CHAR Technologies corporate materials
- ArcelorMittal XCarb announcements
- Natural Resources Canada
- Environment Journal
- Canadian Biomass Magazine
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References
- CHAR Technologies — Biocarbon (CleanFyre™)
Company overview of biocarbon product positioning for industrial applications.
- ArcelorMittal — XCarb Innovation Fund and CHAR Technologies investment
Press release on strategic investment tied to biocarbon development.
- CHAR Technologies — C$6.6M ArcelorMittal investment (corporate post)
Company summary of funding, offtake framing, and emissions-reduction targets discussed.
- Natural Resources Canada — Biocarbon injection at ArcelorMittal Dofasco
Government-backed trial context for blast furnace biocarbon injection.
- Environment Journal — Thorold facility coverage
Third-party reporting on the Thorold renewable energy / biocarbon facility.
- CHAR Technologies — Projects
Corporate project pages including Thorold phase details.
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