LanzaTech, partners achieve technology breakthrough with production of palm-oil substitute

LanzaTech Global Inc. announced Sept. 2 an innovative advancement that the company said has the potential to transform global sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production.

Having successfully commercialized its technology to produce ethanol for SAF via the alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) process, the team’s breakthrough expands LanzaTech’s capability for producing SAF via the hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) pathway.

The innovation offers a sustainable palm-oil substitute, leveraging LanzaTech’s versatile technology, which the company said is pivotal for decarbonization efforts across various sectors.

Collaboratively developed with the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB and the Mibelle Group, this palm-oil alternative replicates essential functional properties needed in the cosmetics industry.

Moreover, this development potentially introduces a novel route to the HEFA pathway for SAF production, circumventing what LanzaTech said are “the sustainability and supply challenges currently present with conventional oil crops and waste oils” typically used in this process.

“This innovation is the result of our longstanding partnership with LanzaTech and a milestone for the cosmetics industry,” said Peter Müller, CEO of the Mibelle Group.

“Combined with the innovative strength of the Fraunhofer Institute, we are setting new standards for the entire industry and underlining our commitment to taking responsibility for the future of our planet while making supply chains more robust,” he said.

LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren added, “The Mibelle Group, as the original innovator behind this idea, has been instrumental in assembling the right partners and driving success, alongside the Fraunhofer Institute’s outstanding innovators who have focused on developing and scaling this solution. This collaboration reflects how revolutionary ideas can generate wide-ranging impacts, from reducing reliance on deforestation-linked ingredients in cosmetics to enabling the production of sustainable aviation fuel, thereby creating change that extends beyond initial objectives.”

Palm oil is a critical raw material due to its high yield, long shelf life and heat resistance.

Global dependency on palm oil, however, “has resulted in extensive deforestation, biodiversity loss and significant CO2 emissions,” according to LanzaTech, adding this highlights the urgent need for sustainable alternatives.

The unique dual-fermentation technology, pioneered by LanzaTech and Fraunhofer IGB, transforms waste-CO2 gases into alcohol and further into a palm oil-like fat using non-GMO oil yeasts in a secondary-fermentation process.

Following successful laboratory trials at Fraunhofer IGB and promising application tests at Mibelle laboratories, efforts are now focused on scaling up production.

This process is currently underway at Fraunhofer’s Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes in Leuna, representing what LanzaTech said is a crucial step toward commercial production.

Alcohol from the LanzaTech process is already an ideal feedstock for SAF production, according to the company.

Via the ATJ process, LanzaTech’s technology enables the production of advanced SAF and, when the ethanol is made from CO2 and green hydrogen, eFuels.

“The versatility of LanzaTech’s technology could potentially now extend into another route to SAF, namely the HEFA pathway—transforming ethanol into synthetic oils that function as alternatives to conventional HEFA feedstocks,” LanzaTech stated. “This innovation advances LanzaTech’s position at the forefront of the rapidly expanding SAF market, offering airlines and fuel producers a new tool in their decarbonization arsenal while demonstrating how circular-carbon solutions can transform entire industries.”