US company recycles factory gases into everyday products

Thanks to the technology developed here, three Chinese factories are already using these microorganisms to convert the greenhouse gases they emit into ethanol.

Then, thanks to partnerships with major brands such as Zara or L'Oréal, this ethanol is in turn transformed into everyday products: bottles, household products, sports shorts or even dresses.

“It is clear that I would not have thought 14 years ago that we would put cocktail dresses on the market from the emissions of steel mills,” laughs Michael Köpke, who joined LanzaTech almost in its infancy. .

This company is the only American among the 15 finalists for the Earthshot prize, created by Prince William to reward initiatives in favor of the climate. The winners will be announced on Friday.

Since its launch, LanzaTech and its 200 employees claim to have avoided releasing 200,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, producing instead some 190 million liters of ethanol.

A "drop of water" compared to the quantities needed to fight against climate change, concedes Michael Köpke, microbiologist.

But after having spent 15 years developing this technique and proving its feasibility on a large scale, the ambition today is to multiply the participating factories.

“We want to get to a point where we will only use the carbon already extracted from the ground, to keep it in circulation”, instead of extracting more oil and gas, explains Mr Köpke.

- "Athlete" bacteria -

LanzaTech likens its technology to designing beer: instead of fermenting sugar, the raw material here is greenhouse gases, and the end product is ethanol.

The commercial bacterium was identified decades ago in rabbit feces. The company placed it in industrial conditions to optimize its performance, "a bit like training an athlete", compares Michael Köpke.

These bacteria are then sent in the form of freeze-dried powder to the factories, which take charge of the construction of reactors several meters high where they will be dumped.

These corporate clients will then reap the rewards of the sale of ethanol.

The Chinese sites are a steel plant and two ferroalloy plants. Six other sites are under construction, including one in Belgium for an ArcelorMittal plant and another in India with the Indian Oil Company.

Since bacteria can ingest CO2, carbon monoxide or hydrogen, the process is very "flexible", more so than "any other gas conversion technology", explains Zara Summers, vice president for science at LanzaTech.

The raw material can be "garbage" that is gasified, "agricultural waste, or the gases released by any heavy industry", she explains.

The various partnerships established have already made it possible to create, from these gases, household products sold on the shelves of the large supermarket chain Migros, or even two collections of dresses for Zara.

Sold around 90 dollars, they are made with polyester from 20% of captured gases.

According to Ms Summers, humanity "will always need carbon", but "in the future, the idea is that it will no longer be lost. (...) Instead of releasing it into the atmosphere, let's -it in products."

- Sustainable fuel -

LanzaTech has also founded a separate company, Lanzajet, to use the generated ethanol as aviation fuel ("sustainable aviation fuel", SAF). Increasing the global production of sustainable fuel is a huge challenge for this sector, which seeks to "green" itself.

The company's goal is to produce nearly 3.8 billion cubic meters of fuel per year by 2030.

Unlike bioethanol produced from wheat, beets or corn, that from gas does not take the place of crops.

For LanzaTech, the next challenge is to commercialize bacteria that produce products other than ethanol. Thousands of different strains are thus tested in its laboratories.

“We have already shown that we can produce more than 100 chemicals,” explains Michael Köpke.

He is particularly enthusiastic about the idea, still under development, of being able to transform gases directly into ethylene, "the most widely used chemical product in the world" (for bottles, packaging, etc.), the production of which today generates today "almost as much" CO2 as aviation.

Currently, LanzaTech's ethanol has to be processed into polyethylene, but this step could be skipped - and save even more energy.