A New Zealand-based waste-to-gas company said July 14 that an $18 million investment will help the company commercialize its technology. Qiming Ventures, a China-focused capital firm, led the financing effort.
LanzaTech’s technology converts industrial waste gases into fuel and chemicals with proprietary bacteria. The company estimates it could produce nearly 32 billion gallons of ethanol yearly with existing steel mill gases alone.
At the end of June, LanzaTech announced a partnership letter of intent with Baosteel, China’s largest steel and iron conglomerate, and a three-way research alliance between LanzaTech, Baosteel and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Baosteel and LanzaTech plan to build a demonstration plant at one of Baosteel’s steel mills, which is expected to be operational in the second half of 2011. The companies will then work to quickly scale it up to nearly 53 MMgy. “The funding will also see expansion of the company’s focus to include the use of CO2 as a feedstock gas,” said Dr. Sean Simpson, co-founder of LanzaTech.
LanzaTech’s technology provides a great opportunity for China, said Gary Rieschel, founder and managing director of Qiming. “The significance of its technology means that fuel can be produced with no impact on food supply or land use,” he says. “Using industrial waste gases curbs greenhouse gas emissions and so maintains manufacturing sustainability in China.”
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In 2007 companies including Khosla Ventures and K1W1 invested $3.5 million in LanzaTech. In 2008 the New Zealand government gave the company an $8.7 million grant that was to be spread over four years.