17-07-2020

LanzaTech selects Hummingbird® Ethylene Technology from TechnipFMC

TechnipFMC announces that its proprietary Hummingbird® ethanol-to-ethylene technology has been selected by LanzaTech Inc. for a key application which, when combined with LanzaTech’s Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) technology, can be used to manufacture sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using ethanol as raw material. LanzaTech’s spin off sustainable aviation fuel company, LanzaJet, is the exclusive licensor of the LanzaTech ATJ technology.

These sustainable technologies will be deployed in a LanzaJet first commercial demonstration scale integrated biorefinery at LanzaTech’s Freedom Pines site in Soperton, Georgia, USA, that will produce 10 million gallons per year of SAF and renewable diesel starting from sustainable ethanol sources. The facility which is partially funded by the US Department of Energy and leverages technology developed by Pacific Norwest National Lab (PNNL) will be in production in early 2022. The combination of these technologies will provide strong validation of the bio and circular economies in action.

For TechnipFMC, this is the first commercial-scale application of the Hummingbird® sustainable ethanol-to-ethylene technology. TechnipFMC’s Hummingbird® is a leading technology based on a simple low-cost process for dehydrating ethanol to ethylene. A key aspect of this advanced technology is its proprietary catalyst resulting in a lower temperature, higher pressure, and more selective process compared to traditional ethanol dehydration processes that use alumina-based catalysts.

Stan Knez, Senior Vice-President Process Technology, Technip Energies, commented: “We are pleased that LanzaTech has selected our Hummingbird® technology, which is a part of our sustainable chemistry portfolio, aimed at supporting our clients to achieve their energy transition targets in the biochemicals market. The Hummingbird® bioethylene provides companies an alternative chemical pathway as a building block for a biorefinery.”

Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech, said: “Ethanol, which can be produced from a variety of locally available waste resources, is an ideal substrate for the production of sustainable fuels and chemical building blocks. With the Hummingbird® technology we have a carbon efficient pathway to SAF via ATJ for a sector in need of reducing their emissions, building resilience and energy security.”