LanzaTech to build facility in India
SKOKIE - Carbon recycling company LanzaTech and Indian Oil Corporation Limited, India's flagship national oil company and announced they will build the world's first refinery of gas-to-bioethanol production facility in India.
The basic engineering for the 40 million liters per annum demonstration facility will begin later this year for installation at IndianOil's Panipat Refinery in Hayrana, India, at an estimated cost of $55 million in U.S. dollars. It will be integrated into existing site infrastructure and will be LanzaTech's first project capturing refinery off-gases.
LanzaTech has developed a gas fermentation process to make fuels and chemicals, using a biological catalyst to ferment waste gas emissions. The large volume of waste gas produced at industrial facilities such as refineries cannot be stored or transported; rather it must be combusted to make power locally and emitted as carbon dioxide.
In India today, the cost of renewable power has fallen below the cost of coal, accelerating the transition to a carbon-free grid. LanzaTech's technology allows refineries to divert waste gases from the grid, supporting the transition to fully renewable power while recycling this carbon into liquid fuels and petrochemicals.
India is adopting a cleaner and greener economic growth pathway today, with the government running one of the largest renewable capacity expansion programs in the world. The implementation of the National Smart Grid Mission, along with new programs for increasing energy capacities from wind and waste conversion, are key elements of this vision. This vision is inextricably linked to the principle of 'need-based consumption' which follows the need to maximize on existing resources and decarbonize everyday activities.
"India is leading a transformational shift which balances industrial growth with the needs of society and the environment," said Dr Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech. "Changes in the energy paradigm pose a serious challenge for energy companies but IndianOil is taking the challenge as an opportunity.
"They are leading the next generation of refiners as they diversify India's energy sources and explore alternative ways to meet the country's energy needs, sustain economic growth and alleviate energy poverty," Holmgren added.