New Zealand Company Converts Carbon Monoxide to Ethanol

A New Zealand company reports that they have developed a method for converting steel factory waste gases into ethanol.  Lanzatech, a biofuel company claims to have invented a microbe that can capture gases such as carbon monoxide before they are released into the air.

The conversion process captures the waste gases and removes particulates, nitrogen and oxygen and then sends the results to a bioreactor.  Finally, the carbon composition of the gas is fermented using Lanzatech’s microbe which produces ethanol.

Lanzatech’s ultimate goal is to license their microbe technology to other companies in the bio-commodities market.  According to Sean Simpson, co-founder of Lanzatech, “the world's steel mills generate enough carbon monoxide emissions to produce 50 billion gallons of ethanol annually. The process would save the gas from entering the atmosphere at a rate of half a tonne for each tonne of steel produced.”