To be developed at ArcelorMittal facility in Ghent, Belgium, the €87m pilot project is claimed to be Europe’s first commercial scale bioethanol plant. It will have an annual production capacity of 47,000t when its second phase is completed in 2018.
Construction on the first phase of the two-phase project will commence later this year, and will have a capacity of 16,000t of ethanol a year by mid-2017.
LanzaTech will install its carbon recycling technology and Primetals Technologies will be responsible for the engineering, automation, key equipment and commissioning of the plant, under a letter of intent signed by the three companies.
Using LanzaTech’s technology, the pilot project will recycle the waste gases and ferments them with a proprietary microbe to produce bioethanol.
Currently, the carbon monoxide produced as part of the steelmaking process at ArcelorMittal’s facility is either flared or used to heat and power the steel mill, emitting carbon dioxide.
The bioethanol process will reduce the steel maker’s CO2 emissions by 2.3t. Also, every ton of bioethanol produced displaces 5.2 barrels of gasoline.
ArcelorMittal innovation vice-president Carl De Maré said: "Steel is produced through a chemical process that results in high levels of waste gases being emitted; this new technology will enable us to convert some of these waste gases into fuels that deliver significant environmental benefits when compared to conventional fossil fuels."
Bioethanol used is in gasoline blending, and can be further processed into other products.
The commercial success of the Grent plant will lead to further such projects across ArcelorMittal’s operations, under a long-term partnership agreement with LanzaTech.
LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren said: "We are tremendously excited to announce this partnership and our first production facility in Europe at a time when it is abundantly clear that we need all solutions and the commitment of large corporations, cities and countries around the world, to help us stay within our 2 degree carbon budget and keep fossil reserves in the ground."
ArcelorMittal plans to establish a new company with financial partners to roll out the bioethanol technology. A total of €10.2m has 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 company said.
Image: The bioethanol process will reduce the steel maker’s CO2 emissions by 2.3t. Photo: courtesy of ArcelorMittal.
