LanzaTech successfully launches LanzaJet, Inc.

03-06-2020 | LanzaTech, a leading biotech company and carbon recycler, has successfully launched LanzaJet, Inc., a new company that will produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for a sector requiring climate friendly fuel options as it starts to recover from the impacts of COVID-19.

Canada’s leading integrated energy company, Suncor Energy Inc., and leading Japanese trading and investment company, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Mitsui), are investing $15 million and $10 million, respectively, to establish LanzaJet. The funding will be used to build a demonstration plant that will produce 10 million gallons per year of SAF and renewable diesel starting from sustainable ethanol sources. Production is expected to start in early 2022. This initial investment coupled with participation from All Nippon Airways (ANA) will complement the existing $14 million grant from the US Department of Energy, enabling the construction of an integrated biorefinery at LanzaTech’s Freedom Pines site in Soperton, Georgia.

In addition to its equity investment, Suncor has contracted to take a significant portion of the SAF and renewable diesel produced at the facility to provide its jet fuel and distillate customers with sustainable energy solutions.

Importantly, investors Suncor and Mitsui are aiming to invest further in the construction of commercial production facilities after the demonstration meets all its technical and economic targets. This novel phased investment approach will see the initial investment followed by a capital call once all the demonstration milestones have been met. This will significantly accelerate commercial deployment at a time when reducing emissions, especially of aviation, is increasingly important and demonstrates a joint commitment to creating a resilient, climate secure future.

The LanzaJet process can use any source of sustainable ethanol for jet fuel production, including, but not limited to, ethanol made from recycled pollution, the core application of LanzaTech’s carbon recycling platform. Commercialization of this process, called Alcohol-to-Jet (AtJ) has been years in the making, starting with the partnership between LanzaTech and the U.S Energy Department’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL developed a unique catalytic process to upgrade ethanol to alcohol-to-jet synthetic paraffinic kerosene (ATJ-SPK) which LanzaTech took from the laboratory to pilot scale.

“Achieving our global climate goals requires scaling new, transformative technologies rapidly. This requires new methods of financing that enable scaling from lab to pilot to demo to commercial without stopping after each step to raise more cash,” said Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech. “Suncor, Mitsui and ANA are stepping up to show that achieving meaningful scale will require new technologies, new business models and new approaches. I am delighted to see LanzaJet take off and to see Jimmy Samartzis lead the team as it brings this sustainable solution to market.”

The complete announcement of the LanzaJet launch can be read here.

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