LanzaTech

LanzaTech will create transformative technology to directly convert CO2 to ethanol at 100% carbon efficiency with technical assistance from the University of Michigan and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The team will develop a novel biocatalyst that leverages affordable, renewable hydrogen (H2) to capture and fix CO2 directly into ethanol, a biofuel and feedstock for valuable products. The core inputs are carbon-free renewable energy, water, and CO2. The alcohol-to-jet process developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and LanzaTech Gas fermentation can leverage renewable H2 to potentially convert the approximately 50 million tonnes of CO2 emitted by U.S. corn ethanol production annually to chemical feedstocks and subsequently to sustainable aviation fuel. The carbon-optimized conversion technology developed under this project can be integrated with multiple CO2 sources, such as grain ethanol refining in the near term and direct air capture in the mid-long term.

The application of biology to sustainable uses of waste carbon resources for the generation of energy, intermediates, and final products---i.e., supplanting the “bioeconomy”—provides economic, environmental, social, and national security benefits and offers a promising means of carbon management.