LanzaJet makes history as world’s 1st to produce jet fuel from ethanol at commercial-scale plant

Photo: LanzaJet

LanzaJet Inc. announced Nov. 13 that it has fully operated and produced fuels at its 10-million-gallon-per-year LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels facility in Soperton, Georgia, marking both the world’s first production of jet fuel using ethanol as a feedstock at a commercial-scale plant.

This achievement marks the culmination of 15 years of research and development, collaboration, investment and scale-up, LanzaJet stated, and represents a critical breakthrough for the aviation industry with evidence that ethanol can be transformed into jet fuel at commercial scale.  

“With the bio-oil HEFA pathway expected to near a plateau in available and qualified feedstocks, LanzaJet’s proprietary alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) technology has now unlocked the next wave of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) technology applicable to nearly all regions throughout the world and urgently needed by the sector,” LanzaJet stated.  

“Today proves what happens when you bring together innovation, resilience, ingenuity and teamwork to think big and develop a new industry, overcome challenges and enable global growth,” said LanzaJet CEO Jimmy Samartzis. “This is an important milestone for LanzaJet and our investors, and it’s a major win for global aviation—perhaps serving as a beacon of hope for the future. Our story at LanzaJet is one of impact—building a new industry, creating value and delivering on our commitments regardless of obstacles in our way. We’re now in a unique position with technology and operational know-how to shape this global industry in the decade ahead.” 

LanzaJet said its ATJ technology is one of the most promising technologies in nearly a decade to reach commercial readiness and offers a scalable solution to decarbonize aviation, leveraging the world’s widely available ethanol feedstocks and the substantial additional production of ethanol possible from waste sources and recycled carbon.  

It provides the opportunity for countries to reinforce and expand their agriculture sectors by accessing this new market, enables economic development and enhances domestic energy security, the company said.  

Nations can now leverage and control supply chains and domestic production of their fuels with LanzaJet’s technology.  

“LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels serves as a blueprint for future SAF production, creating a new pathway for global deployment and commercialization of the company’s ATJ technology,” LanzaJet stated. “LanzaJet successfully troubleshot and brought into operation a fully integrated first-of-a-kind (FOAK) plant and technology solution. Included in LanzaJet’s plant are also FOAK technologies—Technip Energies’ Hummingbird® technology—an ethanol-to-ethylene solution, and oligomerization jointly developed by the U.S. DOE and LanzaTech.”  

LanzaJet said it invested in, engineered, built, integrated and fully operationalized these technologies and the overall integrated solution to efficiently operate the plant as the first commercial-scale fuels facility.  

LanzaJet’s ATJ technology is designed to work with a broad range of sustainable feedstocks—including agricultural residues, energy crops, municipal solid waste and captured carbon—to deliver significant lifecycle greenhouse-gas emissions reductions compared to conventional jet fuel.  

Once blended with Jet A‑1 fuel, the result is a fully certified solution compatible with existing aircraft and infrastructure.  

LanzaJet said it is delivering this technology throughout the world including the U.S., Australia, Japan, India, U.K., Colombia, EU, Middle East and Kazakhstan. 

Located in Treutlen County in Soperton, Georgia, and less than 100 miles from Savannah, LanzaJet invested over $300 million to develop this facility, which employed more than 300 people during construction and has created more than 65 direct and indirect jobs during ongoing operations. 

“LanzaJet stands as the culmination of a history of firsts within the SAF industry, dating back to its origins as part of LanzaTech in 2012 as the first ethanol-to-SAF technology, which was developed in collaboration with the Pacific Northwest National Lab,” the company stated. “That early work enabled lab‑, pilot- and demo-scale plants, production of on-spec fuels, the approval of the ethanol-to-SAF pathway by ASTM in 2016, and the technology’s first commercial flights, which were completed with Virgin Atlantic and All Nippon Airways in 2018 and 2019, respectively.”