LanzaTech has secured a US$46 million investment from China Steel Corp. for a 100,000 metric tonnes per year ethanol plant.
In November 2012, China Steel Corp. and LCY Chemical Corp. formed a joint venture, White Biotech, as part of a collaboration with LanzaTech. The resulting demonstration plant met or exceeded all ethanol production milestones and China Steel Corp. has formally approved the capital to move to commercial scale, LanzaTech said.
Construction of the first 50,000 mt/year facility will start in the fourth quarter of this year, with production to be doubled thereafter. Initial product focus will be industrial ethanol and gasoline additives, with plans for increased product diversity utilizing LanzaTech’s unique microbial capability.
LanzaTech’s gas fermentation process uses proprietary microbes to capture and reuse carbon rich waste gases, reducing emissions and pollutants from industrial processes such as steel manufacturing, while making fuels and chemicals that displace those made from fossil resources.
“China Steel Corp. has long been a champion of utilizing new technologies to create a better future and we are proud to help make this a reality,” said LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren. “We need to keep fossil resources in the ground and carbon recycling is one way we can achieve this. If we are to keep within our global carbon budget we need all technologies to contribute and, more importantly, we need forward looking industries and organizations, such as CSC, to bring these technologies to market.”