LanzaTech selects TechnipFMC’s Hummingbird® technology for its sustainable aviation fuel biorefinery

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Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.

TechnipFMC has announced that its proprietary Hummingbird® ethanol-to-ethylene technology has been selected by LanzaTech for a key application which, when integrated in LanzaTech’s Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) concept, can be utilised to manufacture sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using ethanol as raw material.
Press release: “TechnipFMC’s Hummingbird® Ethylene Technology Selected by LanzaTech for LanzaJet Sustainable Aviation Fuel Biorefinery”, 17/7/2020.
Related posts:
- “Alcohol-To-Fuel”, 2/7/2018.
- “Virgin Atlantic flight crosses the ocean using fuel produced from waste carbon emissions through LanzaTech-PNNL technology”, 8/10/2018.
- “US Energy Department to invest 14 M$ in a LanzaTech’s integrated biorefinery project”, 1/11/2019.
- “ANA, LanzaTech, Mitsui and Suncor launch LanzaJet, a new company that will produce sustainable aviation fuel”, 3/6/2020.

Figure 1. Hummingbird® module (taken from the press release)

LanzaTech’s spin-off sustainable aviation fuel company, LanzaJet, is the exclusive licensor of the LanzaTech ATJ technology (developed by the Pacific Norwest National Lab). These sustainable technologies will be deployed in the LanzaJet first demonstration scale integrated biorefinery at LanzaTech’s Freedom Pines site in Soperton (Georgia, USA), that will produce 10 million gallons per year of SAF and renewable diesel starting from ethanol. The facility, which is partially funded by the US Department of Energy, will be in production in early 2022.

For TechnipFMC, this is the first commercial-scale application of the Hummingbird® technology, which is based on a simple low-cost process for dehydrating ethanol to ethylene. A key aspect of this advanced technology is its proprietary catalyst resulting in a lower temperature, higher pressure, and more selective process compared to traditional ethanol dehydration processes that use alumina-based catalysts.

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