CO₂ Pursued As Feedstock

Researchers at renewable chemical companies and universities are working to advance CO₂ as a feedstock that could take the place of petroleum or food inputs such as corn. LanzaTech has signed an agreement with Petronas, Malaysia’s national oil company, to develop technologies for making chemicals from CO₂ and natural gas. The inputs would come from refinery off-gases and natural gas wells. As their first product, the firms will target acetic acid. LanzaTech is currently commercializing fermentation technology that converts carbon monoxide from steel plant emissions into ethanol. Meanwhile, start-up Newlight Technologies is using greenhouse gases such as CO₂ and methane as the input for its polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) resins. Newlight says it has more than 100,000 lb of annual capacity at a fermentation-based demonstration facility in Irvine, Calif. And chemistry and engineering researchers at Brown University have received a $1.75 million grant from NSF’s Centers for Chemical Innovation Program to explore the potential of CO₂ as a feedstock for commodity chemicals. If the three-year project nets a promising research direction, the team will compete for a second-phase grant of $20 million.