Technip Energies and LanzaTech, a carbon recycling technology company, are bringing their technologies together to transform waste carbon into ethylene, a building block used to manufacture various products, according to a July 11 news release.

Instead of starting the process with virgin fossil carbon, Technip Energies said the joint process will use carbon emissions as the starting point. The so-called breakthrough CO2-to-ethylene technology will combine LanzaTech’s carbon capture and utilization technology with Technip Energies’ Hummingbird technology, which converts ethanol to ethylene via dehydration.

“First, up to 95% of the CO2 in the flue gas is captured from the furnaces of an ethylene cracker and mixed with hydrogen,” Technip Energies said in a news release. “Next LanzaTech’s biorecycling technology transforms the captured waste carbon into ethanol. Finally, Technip Energies’ Hummingbird technology dehydrates the ethanol to ethylene.”

Ethylene is used to make chemicals and materials that include coatings, detergents and plastics.

The integration of technologies opens up the potential to retrofit ethylene crackers globally, helping to decarbonize the sector, LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren said.

“The sustainable production of one of the most used commodity chemicals will have an impact on the lives of billions of people daily,” Holmgren said. “Through partnerships such as this one with Technip Energies, we are creating meaningful pathways to break free from virgin fossil inputs for the things we use in our daily lives.”

The two companies have collaborated on other products, including an alcohol-to-jet process that turns ethanol into sustainable aviation fuel. The process also utilized Technip Energies’ Hummingbird ethanol-to-ethylene technology.

Comments