Over the next few months, the world’s first commercial-scale ethanol-to-jet fuel plant will begin producing it first gallons of aviation fuel. The plant, located in Soperton, Georgia will proceed producing the fuel developed by LanzaTech and its spin-out LanzaJet. The effort represents a major milestone in their nearly 20-year effort to turn waste industrial gases into ethanol, and then to jet fuel. LanzaTech’s aim is to use gas fermentation, in which microbes metabolize waste industrial gases as feedstock and convert them into ethanol and other useful chemical compounds. For now, the company’s aviation-focused spin-out, LanzaJet, produces ethanol-to-jet fuel using catalytic steps adopted from the petrochemical industry, but their ultimate goal is to leave much of the catalytic work to microbes through gas fermentation.
Organisms that ferment gas can use industrial carbon dioxide emissions as a feedstock. Such gas fermentation is not nearly as well developed as traditional fermentation, in which microbes are fed sugars or other biomass …
Organisms that ferment gas can use industrial carbon dioxide emissions as a feedstock. Such gas fermentation is not nearly as well developed as traditional fermentation, in which microbes are fed sugars or other biomass …
