Beijing Shougang LanzaTech New Energy Science & Technology Co., Ltd. a joint venture between carbon recycler, LanzaTech, Shougang Group, a leading Chinese iron and steel producer, and its New Zealand partner, TangMing, have successfully produced more than 9 million gallons of ethanol from recycled steel mill emissions in their first year of operation.

Currently being sold to the road transport market in a low-carbon fuel blend, ethanol from this facility will now be converted into PET to be used for production of CarbonSmart consumer goods (T-shirts, bottles, packaging).

Ethanol is a clean, easily transported and easily convertible liquid that can displace fresh carbon resources. Imagine preventing carbon emissions and instead reusing the carbon to make household products, the clothes you wear, the packaging for your products, and other things you can buy at a store! We can clean our air and keep carbon in the ground in one carbon smart step. Single use carbon must rapidly become a thing of the past.

—LanzaTech CEO, Jennifer Holmgren

LanzaTech is working with India Glycols Limited (IGL), the first company to have commercialized the production of renewable ethylene oxide, its derivatives and glycols, and Far Eastern New Century (FENC), a global leader in sustainability and textile innovation on the conversion of ethanol to drop-in materials that brands are eager to bring into their supply chain.

FENC has launched FENC TopGreen Bio3-PET HTY (High Tenacity Yarn), a third-generation biomass High Tenacity Yarn (bHTY) with superior breaking strength and stability compared to regular recycled HTY.

The second generation of bHTY used sugarcane to replace petroleum to extract ethylene glycol (Bio MEG) which was polymerized with pure terephthalic acid (PTA), reducing reliance on fossil fuels. As for the 3rd generation bHTY, the waste gases of oil refining and manufacturing steel are fermented into ethanol then chemically converted to ethylene glycol.

The ethanol will be converted into sample runs of products requested by consumer brands looking to bring sustainably sourced recycled carbon into their supply chain.

LanzaTech has developed a unique microbial capability that captures and recycles a broad spectrum of gases for fuel and chemical production with more than 50 different molecules demonstrated.

Proprietary microbes combined with innovative approaches in bioreactor design and process development have enabled rapid scale-up to take place. The first commercial unit, converting steel mill waste gases to fuels has started up in China with Shougang and a second is under construction in Belgium with the world’s largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal.

Across the supply chain, LanzaTech promotes a “carbon smart” circular economy, where both gas providers and end users can choose to be resource efficient by recycling or “sequestering” carbon into new products rather than making them from fossil reserves.

Founded in New Zealand, LanzaTech has raised more than US$250 million from investors including Khosla Ventures, K1W1, Qiming Venture Partners, Petronas, Mitsui, Primetals, China International Capital Corp, Suncor, China International Investment Corporation (CITIC), the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, BASF and Novo Holdings.