ArcelorMittal to build EUR-87m waste gas-to-biofuel plant in Belgium

Steel and mining major ArcelorMittal (AMS:MT) today said it would invest in a EUR-87-million (USD 96.3m) flagship pilot project to make bioethanol from waste gases produced during the steelmaking process.

ArcelorMittal plans to set up a dedicated company and seek strategic financial partners for the roll out of this technology. A total of EUR 10.2 million has already been secured under the EU’s 2020 Horizon programme for research and development and talks are currently taking place with potential equity and debt partners.

The steel giant is partnering with New Zealand green technology firm LanzaTech and London-based engineering and plant construction company Primetals Technologies to build the flagship pilot project at its steel plant in Ghent, Belgium. LanzaTech will provide its proprietary carbon recycling technology which involves biological conversion of waste carbon-rich gases into bioethanol while Primetals Technologies will be responsible for part of the engineering, automation, key equipment and commissioning.

Construction is expected to kick off by the end of the year and bioethanol production should start in mid-2017.

The facility will be built in two phases, with phase I involving an initial capacity of 16,000 tonnes of ethanol per year by mid-2017. Phase II, which will be completed in 2018, will bring the total annual capacity to 47,000 tonnes.

The bioethanol will mainly be used in petrol blending, but it can also be further processed into other products such as drop-in jet fuel. Every tonne of the biofuel produced will displace 5.2 barrels of petrol as well as reduce ArcelorMittal’s carbon dioxide emissions by 2.3 tonnes.

ArcelorMittal, which has been working on this project since 2011, has signed a long-term partnership agreement with LanzaTech. Once construction of the Ghent plant is complete and the commercial viability of the project is proven, it may be scaled up to its full potential in Europe, enabling the production of around 500,000 tonnes of bioethanol per year.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.107)

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