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