At an event held at its steel plant in Ghent, Belgium, ArcelorMittal inaugurated its flagship carbon capture and utilization (CCU) project. (Earlier post.) The €200-million Steelanol project is a first of its kind for the European steel industry.

Utilizing carbon recycling technology developed by project partner LanzaTech, the CCU plant uses biocatalysts to transform carbon-rich blast furnace waste gases and from waste biomass into ethanol, which can then be used as a building block to produce a variety of chemical products including transport fuels, paints, plastics, clothing and even cosmetic perfume, hence helping to support the decarbonization efforts of the chemical sector.

The ethanol will be jointly marketed by ArcelorMittal and LanzaTech under the Carbalyst brand name.

Once production reaches full capacity, the Steelanol plant will produce 80 million liters (21 million gallons US) per year of sustainable ethanol—almost half of the total current ethanol demand for fuel mixing in Belgium. It will reduce annual carbon emissions from the Ghent plant by 125,000 tonnes. Other partners involved in the Steelanol project are Primetals Technologies and E4tech.

One of the four bioreactors used in the Steelanol plant being installed in 2021.

ArcelorMittal Ghent will soon inaugurate another first for the European steel industry, with its Torero project set to come on stream in the first quarter of 2023. The €35-million Torero project is designed to process sustainable biomass (initially in the form of waste wood that cannot be used in other applications) for use as a raw material input into the blast furnace, hence lowering the volume of fossil coal used.

This project will reduce annual carbon emissions in Ghent by 112,500 tonnes. ArcelorMittal Ghent intends to add a second reactor to its Torero project over the next two years, hence doubling the size of the project.

ArcelorMittal Ghent is widely regarded as one of the finest steel plants in Europe, staffed by talented, committed and forward-thinking people. We intend to ensure that reputation endures into the future and I believe the work being undertaken here lays the ground for what the steel plant of the future will look like. This is a steel plant which is embracing the latest innovative technologies; which is using sources of circular carbon; which captures and re-uses as many of its waste products as possible, recycling them into something of value; and which is preparing for a future when green hydrogen will remove the need to use any fossil carbon. It is a strong example of what is possible with energy, effort and of course, brilliant scientific minds. It also demonstrates what can be achieved through partnership, so I must thank the Belgian and Flemish governments and the EIB for the support they are providing towards our efforts to transition to net-zero steelmaking.

—Lakskmi Mittal, ArcelorMittal Executive Chairman

The projects being undertaken in Ghent form an important part of ArcelorMittal’s 2030 climate action roadmap, in which the Company is targeting reducing the carbon intensity of the steel it produces by 25% globally, and by 35% across its European operations.