BEIJING (Commodity Online) : 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 produce200 million litres of ethanol per year from the plant's waste gas.

The company confirmed Tuesday that it had secured $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.

LanzaTech already operates a pilot project at Auckland's Glenbrook steel mill which produces about 57,000 litres of ethanol a year from waste gas.

The company is drawing up the final plans for its Chinese waste gas plant and expects construction to begin in a few months.

First results from the plant to come through within a year. The company has plans to extend the technology to India, the USA, Europe and elsewhere once tested and proved.

China India