Vow ASA and ArcelorMittal join forces to build biogas plant in Petange

Specialist provider of technology for decarbonizing industry Vow ASA confirms that it has signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with ArcelorMittal, the world’s leading steel and mining company, to work on a project to build a biogas production plant that will reduce CO2 emissions produced during the steelmaking process.

Vow subsidiary ETIA and ArcelorMittal Europe – Long Products, a leader in the production of sections, sheet piles, rails, and quality wire rod, will work together to build the first dedicated biogas plant for the steel industry, using ETIA’s pyrolysis technology, at ArcelorMittal Rodange in Luxembourg. ArcelorMittal Rodange specializes in the production of grooved rails, supplying major rail projects around the world.

The two companies will cooperate on engineering, business models and financing, and aim to have the Rodange biogas plant operational in 2022. The biogas will be made using Vow’s patented ‘Biogreen’ pyrolysis technology, which involves heating sustainable biomass at high temperatures. The gases emitted during this process are then captured and processed into biogas, which will directly replace the use of natural gas in the Rodange plant’s rolling mill reheating furnace. By-products such as bio-coal will also be created during the process, and re-used within ArcelorMittal, directly replacing the use of coal.

The Rodange biogas plant will be ETIA’s first industrial-scale pilot project for this specific application, and the intention is for similar plants to be built in Europe, thereby increasing the CO2 emissions saved from replacing the use of natural gas.