LanzaTech launches LanzaJet to produce sustainable aviation fuel

LanzaTech has launched LanzaJet, Inc., a new company that will produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). With nearly $50 million in funding from Suncor Energy, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Mitsui & Co., Ltd., and the US Department of Energy (grant), LanzaJet will start construction on 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.

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.

This initial investment, coupled with participation from All Nippon Airways (ANA), will complement the existing $14-0million 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.

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 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.

Jimmy Samartzis, has joined as LanzaJet CEO, bringing a background in clean energy, public policy, infrastructure and sustainability, as well as a decade at United Airlines including multiple executive roles in operations, commercial, corporate affairs, strategy, renewables, and safety. Currently serving as a Director on the Board for the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, he has held various industry roles, including with Airlines for America and the International Air Transport Association, and advised the World Travel and Tourism Council.

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.

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/06/20200603-lanzajet.html