The steel and mining company ArcelorMittal with its partners LanzaTech and Primetals Technologies announced they plan to build the Europe’s first commercial scale production facility to create bioethanol from waste gases produced during the steelmaking process.
Construction of the €87m pilot project, which will be located at ArcelorMittal’s steel plant in Ghent, Belgium, is anticipated to commence later this year, with bioethanol production expected to start mid-2017. Construction will be in two phases, with phase one providing an initial capacity of 16,000 t/y of ethanol by mid-2017 and phase two, which will be completed in 2018, bringing the total capacity to 47,000 t/y of ethanol.
The resulting bioethanol, which cut GHG emissions by over 80% compared with conventional fossil fuels, will predominantly be used in gasoline blending. Approximately 50% of the carbon used in the chemistry of steelmaking leaves the process as carbon monoxide. Today, this waste gas stream is either flared or used to heat and power the steel mill. In either case, the carbon monoxide is combusted and the resulting CO2 is emitted. Every ton of bioethanol produced, displaces 5.2 bbl of gasoline.