€200 million commercial scale CCU plant first
of its kind in the European steel industry
- Facility employing
LanzaTech’s cutting-edge carbon recycling process couples decarbonization
technology with chemical production to advance EU’s 2030 Climate Target
Plan and a circular economy
CHICAGO,
June 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ArcelorMittal and LanzaTech Global Inc.
(Nasdaq: LNZA) today announced a next step toward full operation of
ArcelorMittal’s commercial flagship carbon capture and utilisation (‘CCU’)
facility in Ghent, Belgium. The €200 million ‘Steelanol’ facility is a first of
its kind for the European steel industry, deploying technology developed by
leading carbon utilization company LanzaTech.
This week
saw new progress toward full operation of a commercial scale facility that
will capture carbon-rich waste gases from steelmaking and biologically convert
them into advanced ethanol through LanzaTech’s bio-based process. Unlike
traditional fermentation, the process ferments gases instead of sugars and uses
a biocatalyst instead of yeast. The facility was inaugurated in December 2022,
with cold commissioning taking place thereafter. The biocatalyst has now been
introduced into the facility (a process called inoculation) to begin growth and
verify production of new molecules.
In May
2023, the first gases from the steel mill’s blast furnace were safely
introduced to LanzaTech’s biocatalyst. After a successful inoculation, initial
samples that contained ethanol were produced this week, demonstrating that the
carbon in the gases is being converted into new chemical products.
Commercial-scale ethanol production from the bioreactors will follow, with
expected ramp up of production in the coming months. This advanced ethanol can
then be used as a building block to produce a variety of products, including
sustainable transport fuels, packaging materials, apparel, and even cosmetic
fragrances, hence helping to advance the decarbonization efforts of the global
chemical sector. The ethanol will be jointly marketed by ArcelorMittal and
LanzaTech under the Carbalyst® brand
name.
The
Steelanol plant has the annual capacity to produce 80 million litres of
advanced ethanol, around half of the total current demand in Belgium. It
expects to reduce carbon emissions from the Ghent plant by 125,000 tonnes
annually, thereby advancing the EU’s 2030 Climate Target Plan to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions by 55% by the end of the decade. Project partners include
Primetals Technologies and E4tech with support from CINEA, the European
Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency.
The product samples from the facility this week mark an important step toward the circular use of carbon and the end of single-use carbon, whereby gases are no longer regarded as waste but as raw materials. In addition, the recycling of carbon means Steelanol’s process of Carbalyst® ethanol production does not compete in any way with food crops, as is the case for traditional methods of ethanol production.