Bioethanol from steel mill gases

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The aim of ArcelorMittal is to produce bioethanol from steel mill gases from its steelworks in Ghent, Belgium .

Port of Ghent with the ArcelorMittal steel mill

Use of the steelworks gases

A sustainable reduction in CO 2 emissions in steel production can be achieved by using the steel mill gases for the production of chemical products. This is done in close cooperation between the steel industry and partners in the Carbon2Chem and Steelanol projects.

history

The idea to feed bacteria with steel mill gases came to the founder of the US company LanzaTech from Illinois . When looking for suitable bacteria, the choice fell on clostridia , which are found in some soils and in the deep sea on black smokers . They like very little or no oxygen, but they like carbon monoxide (CO) as in blast furnace and converter gas . During the metabolism of the clostridia , this results in ethanol , an alcohol.

In 2008 LanzaTech began laboratory tests in New Zealand at around 37 ° C in 1 liter and 10 liter fermenters in a water solution with CO converter gas. The clostridia converted a large part of the CO into ethanol. The British-Swiss consulting firm E4tech calculated the carbon footprint of the called Steelanols biological ethanol with the result: This way the production of ethanol is around two thirds cheaper than the recovery of gasoline from crude oil. ArcelorMittal applied to the EU Commission to recognize alcohol as a biofuel. It was recognized in 2017 and Steelanol can therefore be added to gasoline as a biofuel. If a vehicle were to run on ethanol alone, there would be a CO 2 reduction of around two thirds

Steelanol in the Horizon 2020 R&D program

As part of the European Union's Horizon 2020 R&D program , the first project phase will take place from May 2015 to the end of October 2018 to examine this technology on a large-scale. Starting in 2018, ArcelorMittal is investing around € 150 million in a large pilot plant with which the carbon monoxide from the steel mill's gases in the steelworks in Ghent, Belgium is processed into bioethanol. This produces around 63,000 tons of ethanol per year. It is the first system of its kind in Europe and the largest system to be built with this technology to date. A total of 22 million euros were applied for and approved as part of Horizon 2020. € 4 million came from the British-French-Dutch-Flemish funding program INterreg2Seas.

Around 50 kg of bioethanol are produced per ton of steel . If the demonstrator meets expectations, it can be expected that ArcelorMittal will also install these systems in its German steelworks.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.vdi-nachrichten.com/Fokus/Biokraftstoff-Stahlwerk/ accessed on October 12, 2018.
  2. ↑ https://germany.arcelormittal.com/icc/arcelor/broker.jsp?uMen=d1a/ accessed on October 12, 2018.
  3. ↑ https://www.vdi-nachrichten.com/Fokus/Biokraftstoff-Stahlwerk/ accessed on October 12, 2018.

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