The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a €75m ($872mn) loan to ArcelorMittal for the construction of two environmental projects aimed at producing steel with low-carbon emissions at ArcelorMittal Ghent, Belgium.
The financing is in line with the EU’s climate objective to help develop low-carbon steelmaking technologies and value-added new products. The steelmaker’s two projects that could cost around €215mn, are aimed at reducing up to 350,000mt of carbon-dioxide emissions annually in the first phase.
The Steelanol project is a €165mn industrial-scale demonstration plant that will capture waste gases from the blast furnace and biologically convert them into recycled-carbonethanol, which in turn, can be blended for use as a liquid fuel. It will be the first commercial product of ArcelorMittal’s Carbalyst® family of recycled carbon chemicals. The project is expected to be completed in 2022 after which it would produce up to 80mn litres of recycled-carbon ethanol annually.
The Torero project is a €50mn large-scale demonstration plant to convert waste wood into bio-coal, partially replacing the coal currently used in blast furnaces. The plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2022. In the early phase, the Torero plant will convert up to 60,000mt of waste wood into 40,000mt of bio-coal annually. The volume will be doubled after the start of the first Torero reactor.
ArcelorMittal Europe has committed to reduce CO2 emissions by 30pc by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2050, in line with the EU’s Green Deal and the Paris Agreement.
The EIB is the European Union’s long-term lending institution and is directly owned by all the member states. It makes long-term loans available in support of EU policy objectives.
($1= €0.911)