Norwegian materials firm Elkem in major biofuel infrastructure capex

On Friday, Norwegian listed materials company Elkem, whose silicone, silicon and carbon products are used in an array of energy, electric vehicle, telecommunications, infrastructure, and consumer applications, said it will commit NOK 140 million (around $17 million) to new infrastructure at its production site in Rana. The infrastructure spend will enable Elkem to use wood chips as a biogenic fuel source at the Rana plant.

The investment is part of Elkem’s declared goal of increasing its share of emissions from renewable biogenic sources (which are carbon neutral) to 40 percent by 2030. The company reached 20 percent of direct CO₂ emissions based on renewable biogenic sources in Norway as of 2020. The move to integrate biofuel in Rana comes after Elkem’s investment in a biocarbon plant in Canada last year. In 2019, Elkem’s plant in Paraguay became the first location within Elkem and in the overall metals industry to successfully produce ferrosilicon using 100 percent sustainable biocarbon as a fuel source.

Roughly half of the investment will be covered by grants from the Norwegian NOx Fund, a fund founded and owned by 15 Norwegian companies created with the aim of reducing carbon emissions in Norway.

“This investment in infrastructure for wood chips at Elkem Rana constitutes an attractive opportunity to both improve furnace operating yield and reduce CO₂ and NO_x [nitrogen oxide] emissions through increased use of biocarbon,” said Inge A. Grubben-Strømnes, Elkem’s SVP for Silicon Products. She added that the reduction in NOx is comparable to removing close to 20,000 diesel cars from the road.

Elkem’s Rana plant, which already uses renewable hydropower to recover some 15 percent of its overall electricity usage, provides specialty and standard ferrosilicon products to the global steel market, as well as Elkem Microsilica, a key ingredient in many advanced construction materials.

Battery materials rollout 

Earlier this month, Elkem announced the formal launch of its advanced EV battery materials division in Kristiansand (previously an industrial pilot project) as a separate company, to be called Vianode. Vianode is currently in talks with several battery cell manufacturers globally.

“The production of battery materials represents one of our biggest growth opportunities,” Elkem CEO Michael Koenig said upon the launch. “By establishing Vianode as a dedicated company for advanced battery materials, we ensure full focus on developing this business and progressing the large-scale battery plant towards a planned final investment decision in 2021.”