LanzaTech Lands $55.8 M Series C to Make Ethanol from Smoke Stack Emissions
May 7, 2012 No CommentsImagine fuel converted from the emissions of a smoke stack, thanks to a bacteria originally discovered in the intestinal tracks of rabbits.
Thanks to a recently landed $55.8 million in Series C funding, LanzaTech may soon be delivering that fuel to a gas station near you.
The round was led by the Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund. New investors PETRONAS Technology Ventures Sdn Bhd and the Dialog Group participated alongside existing investors Khosla Ventures, Qiming Venture Partners K1W1, bringing the company’s total investment funding to $85 million.
The company produces ethanol and other chemical products using a proprietary microbe that has a WHO Category 1 safety rating (the same as Baker’s yeast). It currently has a pilot project at a steel mill in New Zealand creating 15,000 gallons of ethanol per year, and a facility in Shanghai that produces 100,000 gallons of fuel per year. If all goes well, the company hopes to be producing 30 to 35 million gallons of fuel by the end of 2013, and reach a billion gallon annual capacity by 2016.
The company produces the fuel from carbon monoxide taken from smoke stack flues. The process uses up 80 to 90 percent of the carbon dioxide, using water as the key element. The water is further recycled to minimize the water footprint. The process has the unique advantage of creating energy without competing for food, land or water.