Production of bioethanol from industrial emissions

Europe's first commercial-scale facility will be built to produce bioethanol from the emissions generated during the steel manufacturing process. That was the announcement when the three companies signed the agreement to implement this project.

Bioethanol from industrial emissions

Page Phys.org said bioethanol can cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80% compared to traditional fossil fuels. The project will produce 47,000 tons of ethanol per year, enough to blend with gasoline to supply 500,000 cars.

By 2018, when the second phase is completed, the project capacity will be 47,000 tons / year - (Photo: Physorg)

The three companies participating in the project are: ArcelorMittal, LanzaTech and Primetals Technologies . They will use waste gas recycling technology and ferment them with the proprietary strain of bacteria that are held to produce bioethanol.

LanzaTech says the production process produces inferior products for fermentation from biomass derived from other industries.

At the beginning of 2015, at the symposium on biotechnology for fuel and chemicals, LanzaTech said their technology involves a proprietary strain of Clostridium autoethanogenum.

The press release said that every ton of bioethanol produced by this industry would replace 5.2 conventional petrol tanks and would reduce the CO2 equivalent by 2.3 tons.

The location to choose the factory is Ghent (Belgium), the production of ethanol will start from mid-2017. The total initial capacity is 16,000 tons. By 2018, when the second phase is completed, the capacity will be 47,000 tons / year.