LanzaTech Wins Major Circular Economy Award At World Economic Forum For Carbon Smart Solution
- Published: Thursday, 21 January 2016
- Author: Daily News
DAVOS, Switzerland -- LanzaTech has won the Young Global Leader Award for Circular Economy Entrepreneur as part of the 2016 Circulars Awards program, organized by the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders in collaboration with Accenture. The Award recognizes early-stage organizations at the vanguard of the circular economy demonstrating innovation, market disruption and scalability.
LanzaTech's process can be likened to a brewery, instead of sugars and yeast to make beer, the company uses microbes and waste gases (for example from the steel industry) to make fuels and chemicals. The process captures and recycles waste gases before they are emitted as greenhouse gases (GHGs), reducing pollutants and particulate emissions by over 85 per cent, while simultaneously driving economic growth.
LanzaTech enables companies to drive revenue from waste streams and work across new sectors, for example a steel mill could make steel for a car then use the waste emissions to make the fuel for that car as well as chemical derivatives to produce the interior plastic moldings, the seating foam, the structural adhesives, the exterior coatings and paints and the synthetic rubber all for that same car.
"The transition to a circular economy requires a head set change," said LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren. "We have to realize that waste is a choice. Everything can and should be reused, just as everything is reused in nature. Through innovation we will drive to a future where there is no such thing as waste. This must become the new normal."
LanzaTech's first commercial units are being built in Taiwan with China Steel, in China with Shougang Group and in Belgium, with the world largest steel company, ArcelorMittal.
The winners of the Circulars were announced at a ceremony as the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting took place in Davos. More information can be found at https://thecirculars.org/.
LanzaTech's proprietary gas fermentation technology provides an economic route to fuels and high-value chemicals by recycling waste carbon streams. LanzaTech's solutions mitigate carbon emissions while displacing fossil resources needed for fuel and chemical production. Founded in New Zealand, LanzaTech has raised more than US$200 million from investors including Khosla Ventures, K1W1, Qiming Venture Partners, Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund, Petronas, Mitsui, Primetals, China International Capital Corp, Suncor and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. For more information about LanzaTech visit: http://www.lanzatech.com.
-NTM-
