LanzaTech develops waste gas-to-ethanol technology

Ethanol Producer Magazine September 2009
By Erin Voegele
Report posted Aug. 27, 2009, at 2:00 p.m. CST

New Zealand-based LanzaTech NZ Ltd. recently announced it has developed a proprietary fermentation technology that can be used to produce ethanol using the carbon monoxide and hydrogen components of industrial waste gases and biomass-based syngas.

According to LanzaTech’s co-founder Sean Simpson, industrial waste gases, such as those that result from steel processing, contain high concentrations of carbon monoxide. “The LanzaTech Process captures [this] gas and uses it as a resource,” he said. LanzaTech’s technology can also utilize the carbon monoxide and hydrogen components of syngas created using any biomass resource, including municipal waste, organic industrial waste and waste wood. “The gasification process breaks down the chemical bonds in the biomass, making up to 80 percent of the energy available for fermentation,” Simpson said.

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