China to build first waste gas-to-fuel plant soon

China’s largest steel and iron conglomerate Baosteel is planning to build a commercial plant near one of its factories to convert waste gas to ethanol. The plant, which will be built by New Zealand-based clean technology company LanzaTech, has an initial capacity to produce 200 million liters of ethanol per year from the plant’s waste gas. The company confirmed that it had secured US$25 million from investors, spearheaded by venture capital firm Qiming Ventures, to commercialize its waste gas-to-fuel process. Baosteel signed a commercialization deal along with the Chinese Academy of Sciences with the company in June. The company has plans to extend the technology to India, the U.S.A., Europe and elsewhere, once tested and proven. (July 14, 2010)