LanzaTech, a Nasdaq-listed next-generation carbon transformation company, reported that it successfully engineered specialized biocatalysts to directly produce ethylene from CO2 in a continuous process. 

Ethylene is the most widely used petrochemical globally and is primarily produced from fossil inputs in an energy-intensive reaction that releases CO2. LanzaTech’s new process reverses this by turning CO2 into the resource from which ethylene can be produced in a continuous, low-temperature, energy-efficient process. Ethylene is needed to develop a wide array of chemicals and materials for plastics, detergents, and coatings.

The company had previously produced ethylene by using ethanol produced from carbon emissions and converting it to ethylene. The new process bypasses this conversion step to make the process less energy intensive and more efficient.

This advancement in bacterium bioengineering moves LanzaTech closer to its goal of replacing fossil-based feedstocks used to manufacture consumer goods with waste carbon. Furthermore, this also shows an opportunity for the company to further penetrate the global ethylene market, which as of 2022, was valued at USD 125 billion.

Analyst QuickTake: In addition to redeveloping its ethylene production process, LanzaTech also actively partnered up with several companies in the last few months to develop sustainable products, such as a shoe made from carbon emissions with On and sustainable fragrance ingredients from renewable carbon with Givaudan . The company also partnered with Brookfield Renewable to build new commercial-scale production plants to transform captured carbon into raw material commodities.