The Auckland-based biotechnology company has just signed deal to supply Virgin Atlantic with the world’s first low-carbon jet fuel.
The technology is currently being piloted in New Zealand.
LanzaTech is developing facilities in China and India. Virgin Atlantic will use the fuel on its routes from Shanghai and Delhi to London.
LanzaTech technology recycles waste gases from industrial steel production, which are then fermented and chemically converted into aviation fuel. The gases would normally have been burnt into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
Virgin Atlantic estimates the first commercial operation will be in China by 2014.
If this is successful, LanzaTech plans to roll out facilities around the globe.
Virgin Atlantic owner Sir Richard Branson says partnering with LanzaTech to produce next-generation, low-carbon aviation fuel is major step towards radically reducing his airline’s carbon footprint.
Meanwhile, LanzaTech has nabbed recognition overseas as the Best Innovation by an SME in the global ICIS Innovations Awards 2011.
It has also kept its ranking in the Global Cleantech Top 100 and been named Company of the Year Asia Pacific for 2011.
