Helix Carbon Targets Cheaper, Cleaner Iron by Recycling Blast Furnace CO2
Helix Carbon says its exhaust tolerant electrolyzer can recycle blast furnace CO2, cut coke use by 33% and save ironmakers $14 per ton while curbing emissions.
Summary
Helix Carbon, led by co-founder and CEO David Brown, has designed an electrolyzer intended to process an entire blast furnace exhaust stream without first purifying and concentrating its carbon dioxide. Electricity and a catalyst remove one oxygen atom from CO2, creating carbon monoxide that returns to the furnace and reduces iron ore to metallic iron. Recycling that gas could lower coke consumption and emissions without replacing blast furnaces.
Research estimates the process could eliminate 30% to 40% of coke, with some papers suggesting up to 90%, although Brown says the figure remains disputed. Helix proposes starting at 33%, which it says would save producers $14 per ton of iron. Grand View Research values the combined iron and steel market at $2 trillion, but adoption is slow because some blast furnaces operate for more than 100 years. Helix plans to generate earlier revenue from specialty chemicals by making chemicals on site from waste CO2 streams without capturing the gas first. The startup presented onstage at Startup Battlefield in San Francisco on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, during the October 13 to 15 event.
Positives
- Helix Carbon says replacing 33% of blast furnace coke would save producers $14 per ton of iron.
- The electrolyzer is designed to process the furnace's entire raw exhaust stream without prior CO2 purification or concentration.
- Recycled carbon monoxide could reduce coke consumption by 30% to 40%, with some research estimating up to 90%.
- The system could cut emissions while preserving blast furnaces rather than requiring producers to replace long-lived equipment.
- Specialty chemical production from waste CO2 streams could give Helix Carbon revenue before steel industry adoption accelerates.
Risks & concerns
- Published estimates for coke elimination range from 30% to 90%, leaving the technology's achievable reduction uncertain.
- Blast furnaces can operate for more than 100 years, contributing to slow equipment and process changes across the industry.
- Helix Carbon's proposed 33% coke replacement remains an initial target rather than a demonstrated industrywide result.
- A $14 saving per ton is meaningful in thin-margin iron production, but still modest in absolute terms.
- The company presented its technology in a startup competition, and details on commercial deployments remain limited.