DOE awards LanzaTech funding
Published by Callum O'Reilly,
Senior Editor
Hydrocarbon Engineering,
The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) has selected LanzaTech to receive a US$4 million award to design and plan a demonstration-scale facility using industrial off gases to produce 3 million gal./yr of low carbon jet and diesel fuels.
The facility will recycle industrial waste gases from steel manufacturing to produce a low cost ethanol intermediate ‘Lanzanol’. Both Lanzanol and cellulosic ethanol will then be converted to jet fuel via the Alcohol to Jet (ATJ) process developed by LanzaTech and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).
The ATJ technology was initially developed with DOE funding by PNNL and subsequently scaled-up by LanzaTech to produce 4000 gal. of sustainable jet fuel from Lanzanol and other sources, as well as 600 gal. of diesel fuel, for fuel quality testing, certification and a proving flight with Virgin Atlantic.
LanzaTech is currently building its first commercial ethanol facilities using waste gases, including one in China with Shougang, and one in Belgium with ArcelorMittal. LanzaTech will work with ArcelorMittal to evaluate US opportunities for leveraging this expertise to demonstrate an entirely new pathway to low carbon fuels from industrial wastes that are either flared or underutilised. Jennifer Holmgren, LanzaTech CEO, said: “Economics and sustainability are key to realising the potential of alternative aviation fuels […] Jet fuel accounts for as much as 40% of an airline’s operating costs and the sector has made substantial commitments to reduce their CO2 emissions by 2025. So fuels must address both of these needs to succeed at commercial scale. Thanks to the Department of Energy, the partners in this project will accelerate the commercial production of low cost, low carbon jet, gasoline and diesel in the United States.
To demonstrate process versatility, ethanol from other waste gas streams will be converted, including cellulosic ethanol produced via fermentation of biomass syngas by Aemetis. Ambitech will be LanzaTech’s engineering partner with additional engineering contributions from Aemetis. Other project partners include PNNL, Petron Scientech, CRI Catalyst Company, Nexceris and Gardner Denver Nash, Michigan Technological University, and Audi.
Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/clean-fuels/09012017/doe-awards-lanzatech-funding/
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