EIB finances ArcelorMittal's carbon emission-reducing projects
The European Investment Bank, with the support of the European Commission, has agree a €75 million loan for the construction of two projects at ArcelorMittal Ghent, Belgium, to reduce carbon emissions by converting waste and by-products into new products.
The first project, Steelanol, with a total cost of €165 million, is an industrial-scale demonstration plant that will capture waste gases from the blast furnace and biologically convert them into recycled-carbonethanol. The ethanol produced can be blended for use as a liquid fuel. The plant, due for completion in 2022, is expected to produce up to 80 million litres of recycled-carbon ethanol a year.
The second project, Torero, is a €50 million large-scale demonstration plant to convert waste wood into bio-coal, partially replacing the coal currently injected into the blast furnace.
In the early stage, the Torero plant will be able to convert up to 60,000 tonnes of waste wood into around 40,000 tonnes of bio-coal every year. This volume will be doubled in a second stage of the project, after the start of the first Torero reactor. The plant, which is being developed in partnership with Torr-Coal, Renewi, Joanneum Research Centre, Graz University and Chalmers Technical University, is expected to be operational by the end of 2022.
