5 May, 2026 17:01:17 IST .png)
Norwegian metals and materials firm, Elkem has received a NOK 87-mn ($9.3-mn) grant from Enova to develop industrial biocarbon solutions for its silicon smelters.
Enova is a Norwegian government-owned enterprise that funds and promotes the transition to a low-emission society.
The project, which has a total budget of NOK 242-mn ($26-mn) and runs until 2028, could enable emission reductions of up to 0.5 million tonnes of CO₂ by increasing the share of renewable carbon.
Carbon is a critical input when converting quartz into silicon, and Elkem has for several years worked to replace fossil coal with biocarbon derived from charcoal, wood chips and briquettes made from by-products of the forestry and wood industries.
“Biocarbon is one of the most important levers available for reducing emissions from silicon production,” said Mr. Grim Terje Øberg, project manager at Elkem. “To increase its use at scale, we need biocarbon products that are tailored for our large, high-temperature furnaces.”
Biocarbon currently accounts for around 25% of carbon input at Elkem’s Norwegian smelters. The company aims to double that share by end-2030 and this would require new biocarbon products better suited to industrial silicon production.
The Enova-supported project will address this through testing and development across the value chain. Between 2026 and 2028, Elkem will test different types of biomass from various producers, including Norwegian start-ups, through laboratory work, pilot trials and industrial testing at its five Norwegian smelters. Improved handling systems for biocarbon at industrial scale will be developed in parallel.
The company noted that replacing half the fossil carbon used by silicon and ferrosilicon producers globally with biocarbon could reduce worldwide fossil CO2 emissions by more than 20 million tonnes annually. Biocarbon is a central plank of Elkem’s strategy to reach net zero by 2050.
