LanzaTech, ReCarbon, Woodside Team up on Carbon Capture and Utilization Project in Australia

March 21, 2022

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by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) ... (J)ust in is breaking news that they are collaborating in a new carbon capture and utilization project in Western Australia with ReCarbon and Woodside Energy.

In today’s Digest, the project details, while you may know LanzaTech, exactly who are ReCarbon and Woodside Energy, what does this project mean, reactions from the stakeholders, and more.

The Project

They call it a “collaboration” between LanzaTech, ReCarbon, and Woodside Energy and they will be working together on investigating the viability of a proposed Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) pilot facility in Perth, Western Australia. It’s a collaborative studies program aimed at converting carbon emissions into useful products.

The proposed pilot facility would recycle greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane into value-added ethanol using ReCarbon and Lanzatech’s technologies. The ReCarbon technology would convert carbon dioxide and methane into synthesis gas, with the LanzaTech technology fermenting the synthesis gas into ethanol. Traditionally, ethanol manufacture relies on land and water use for source crops, such as corn. CCU reduces the reliance on these natural resources.

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Why is Woodside, an energy producer interested in this? Simply put, Woodside believes CCU is an emerging field with growing demand from existing and potential customers seeking alternative solutions for lower carbon. This collaboration and proposed pilot demonstrate Woodside’s commitment to developing new energy products and lower-carbon services.

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Woodside’s hydrocarbon business is complemented by a growing portfolio of hydrogen, ammonia and solar opportunities in Australia and internationally. Their new energy opportunities include the proposed hydrogen and ammonia projects H2Perth and H2TAS in Australia and the proposed hydrogen project H2OK in North America.

ReCarbon was founded in 2011 and is the developer of a commercial proprietary microwave plasma technology applied to the conversion of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and methane) to syngas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide). Based in California, USA with a global operational footprint, ReCarbon is deploying its disruptive, combustion-free, climate-positive technology in plants and projects worldwide, producing revenue and reducing costs in targeted hard-to-abate industry sectors.

And LanzaTech you probably already know all about, but essentially, they harness the power of biology and big data to create climate-safe materials and fuels. With expertise in synthetic biology, bioinformatics, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning coupled with engineering, Illinois-based LanzaTech has created a platform that converts waste carbon into new everyday products that would otherwise come from virgin fossil resources. LanzaTech’s first commercial scale gas fermentation plant has produced over 30 million gallons of ethanol which is the equivalent of keeping over 150,000 metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Additional plants are under construction globally and this new pilot collaboration will likely add to that list. READ MORE

Woodside changes name, merges with BHP Group (Biofuels Digest)