The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) has committed up to $200 million in federal funding and authorized the initiation of Phase 1 of Technip Energies and LanzaTech Global’s Sustainable Ethylene from CO2 Utilization with Renewable Energy Project.
LanzaTech Global, Inc., the carbon recycling company transforming waste carbon into sustainable fuels, chemicals, materials, and protein, will expand its biorefining platform capabilities to include operations that produce LanzaTech Nutritional Protein (“LNP”) as the primary product. LNP is a microbial protein that is a nutrient-rich alternative to plant and animal-based proteins. By using a new microbe in its proprietary gas fermentation process, LanzaTech’s biorefining platform – the US company claims – can produce a cost-competitive protein solution that supports a resilient food supply chain. LNP production has the capability to address food security issues and be produced anywhere in the world, independent of weather extremes. Notably, the production of LNP uses a fraction of the land and water resources that traditional protein sources require.
Swiss sports brand On is moving away from petroleum-based resources by creating a new foam material called CleanCloud™, made using carbon emissions as a raw material. On is the first company in the footwear industry to explore carbon emissions as a primary raw material for a shoe bottom unit, specifically EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) foam, that could also be used in other shoe parts and products in the future.
“On – the company claims – is convinced that innovation is pivotal to cutting greenhouse gas emissions. CleanCloud™ is the result of four years of dedicated work, which began with finding the best possible partners. We are adopting a collaborative approach to overcome the challenges of connecting these technologies at commercial scale.”
LanzaTech and LanzaJet last Monday welcomed Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm and Senator Jon Ossoff to the Freedom Pines Biorefinery in Soperton, Georgia. The site is a center of research, development, and scale-up for LanzaTech’s commercial carbon capture and utilization technology with a specialized biomanufacturing center producing the “secret sauce” that is shipped from the United States to commercial partners around the world.
In addition to mattresses, sports floors and textile fibres, Covestro has opened up a further area of application for the use of CO2 in plastics production: now foams for the automotive industry can also be produced partly using carbon dioxide instead of fossil raw materials such as crude oil. The innovative precursor cardyon® is used for this purpose, with which the Swiss company FoamPartner produces foams for various areas in the vehicle interior.
Carbon transformation company Twelve and biotechnology company LanzaTech partnered to transform CO2 emissions into polypropylene, a key polymer used for medical devices including syringes and IV bags, as well as for large-scale applications in automotive, furniture, textiles and other everyday products.
Beiersdorf and Evonik have reached an agreement on a research partnership. Its aim is to develop sustainable raw materials for care products, using carbon dioxide (CO2) as the starting material. Beiersdorf is on the lookout for new sources of raw materials that will also reduce the company’s carbon footprint. One option here is artificial photosynthesis technology. The idea: with the aid of electricity from solar energy and bacteria, valuable raw materials are produced with water and CO2, drawing on natural photosynthesis as a model. The joint research project of Evonik and Beiersdorf is being funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the amount of around €1 million.
Carbon recycling pioneer, LanzaTech, continues to make strides in scaling up its alcohol to jet (ATJ) platform. Commercialization of the ATJ process has been years in the making, starting with the partnership between LanzaTech and the U.S Energy Department’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. PNNL developed a unique catalytic process to upgrade ethanol to first commercial flight with Virgin Atlantic, sustainable aviation fuel made from captured pollution is ready for full scale demonstration and commercialization.
The production processes of the most important basic chemicals are responsible for around 70 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the chemical industry. “BASF experts – the German chemical giant claims – are working intensely on new technologies to substantially reduce emissions in these processes. The company has bundled all of this work under the roof of its ambitious Carbon Management Program”.
Bio-on, a global leader in the high quality bioplastic sector, and Gruppo Hera, one of Italy’s largest multi-utility providers, reached an agreement to take 90% and 10% shares respectively (with the possibility of Hera increasing its share to 49.9%) in Lux-on, the new company founded by Bio-on aiming to revolutionise the production of PHAs biopolymers using CO2 captured from the atmosphere and producing energy without using fossil fuels.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 