LanzaTech has deal with huge Indian refiner, IndianOil

Kiwi clean-energy company LanzaTech has signed a deal with Indian Oil Corp., that nation's biggest refiner, to test the ability of its gas fermentation technology to produce fuel grade ethanol.

IndianOil is the subcontinent's largest home-based petroleum company, and the memorandum of understanding with LanzaTech will evaluate the proprietary bacterial conversion method at one of its refineries, the Auckland-based company said in a statement.

LanzaTech scaled up and tested its technology at the Glenbrook steel mill, using smoke-stack gas streams as the energy source for bacteria which convert the waste to ethanol and other products.

This includes 2,3-Butanediol (2.3-BD), a key polymer, plastic and hydrocarbon fuel building block.

The accord with IndianOil follows technology development partnerships with China's Baosteel, Henan Coal and Chemical Industrial and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the past six months.

It has received a number of venture capital injections during its rapid development, including a key investment from US-based Khosla Ventures.

IndianOil, which sells almost half of all petrol sold in India, has over 34,000 employees and was ranked 125 in the Fortune Global 500, is looking for innovative options to augment its energy resources, chairman Brij Bansal said in the statement.

"LanzaTech's technology is likely to support our efforts by harnessing fuel grade ethanol from waste gas streams for partly meeting the requirements for motor spirit blends in the future," he said.

"We are determined to explore sustainable options in biofuels and the ethanol blending efforts will have to be supplemented by technology solutions as well."

Last year LanzaTech was selected as one of the globe's top 100 clean tech companies, and its chief executive Jennifer Holgrem said the collaboration with IndianOil will enable an acceleration of technical and economic feasibility studies.

"Our goal is to show that there will be improved profitability and an overall reduction of the carbon footprint in IndianOil refineries," she said.

"It will also enable IndianOil to comply with that country's renewable fuel mandates. We are pleased to collaborate with IndianOil to bring a new, indigenous resource into India's liquid transportation fuel pool."

India's crude oil imports are soon expected to be more than 80% of its total needs within a few years.

The country's biofuels policy is to increase the use of alternate renewable fuels produced from sustainable, non-food sources, and its law now requires oil companies to blend petrol with up to 5% ethanol.

source: tvnz.co.nz