The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide financing for a project in Belgium for the production of bioethanol from carbon-containing gas from the blast furnaces of ArcelorMittal (AMS:MT).

The bank last week said it has approved EUR 12.6 billion of financing for total of 83 projects in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. It did not reveal details on its support for ArcelorMittal’s project. The steel group in June announced that construction of the bioethanol facility had started in Ghent. Commissioning and first production are expected by mid-2020.

ArcelorMittal is partnering in the project, which it says will revolutionise blast furnace carbon emissions capture, with Chicago-based LanzaTech. The latter’s technology relies on microbes that feed on carbon monoxide to make bioethanol.

Annual production at Ghent is planned to reach roughly 80 million litres. The bioethanol made there will be used as transport fuel or, possibly, in the production of plastics.

 

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