Carbon transformation company Twelve and biotechnology company LanzaTech have transformed CO₂ emissions into ethanol as a part of an ongoing research and development partnership.

Ethanol is typically produced using biological processes or as a petrochemical, through ethylene hydration, using fossil fuels. It’s also often produced using corn and other crop feedstocks, but this approach is dependent on crops that otherwise could be used to grow food or waste feedstocks.

Twelve and LanzaTech are eliminating fossil fuels from ethanol production by converting CO₂ to CO through Twelve’s carbon transformation technology (a new class of CO₂-reducing catalysts and a novel device that splits CO₂ with just water and renewable electricity as inputs), and subsequently using LanzaTech’s small Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR) to convert CO to ethanol.

This approach is highly scalable and could ultimately produce ethanol at an industrial scale, while simultaneously eliminating CO₂ emissions.

Our partnership with Twelve provides us with the feedstock needed to create critical resources like ethanol without adding CO₂ to the atmosphere. Our process aims to rebalance the overabundance of carbon in our environment and instead reuse it for meaningful applications.

—LanzaTech CEO Dr. Jennifer Holmgren

In Fall 2021, Twelve and LanzaTech also announced plans to develop polypropylene from CO₂ with a grant from Impact Squared. This work will see Twelve converting CO₂ to CO, which will in turn be converted by LanzaTech’s proprietary microbe to isopropyl alcohol (IPA).

Finally, TotalEnergies, using its alcohols dehydration knowhow (Atol), will dehydrate it into propylene which will be polymerized into polypropylene with the same technical characteristics as its fossil counterparts. Polypropylene is a major polymer used in key applications, including medical devices like syringes and IV bags, automotive, furniture, textiles, and other durable products.