LanzaTech, Eramet announce plans for integrated CCU facility in Norway

LanzaTech (LNZA) announced plans to develop a commercial-scale Carbon Capture and Utilization, or CCU, facility at Heroya Industrial Park in Porsgrunn, Norway. The plant will produce ethanol and is expected to begin operations in 2028. Eramet will supply furnace gas as feedstock to the facility from the Porsgrunn Manganese Alloys smelter but will not participate in its financing. To unlock further emissions reductions, the two companies also intend to build upon the CCU infrastructure and, if demonstrated to be feasible, integrate Carbon Capture and Storage technology as part of a second phase of the project. The integration of LanzaTech’s CCU technology with CCS, two commercially proven carbon management solutions, is expected to establish an integrated facility that drives carbon abatement metrics. The new plant at Heroya will complement the six other commercial scale plants already using LanzaTech’s carbon recycling technology to produce ethanol and the first for which LanzaTech will manage the full scope of project design, construction, and operations. From a project financing standpoint, LanzaTech’s infrastructure investment partner Brookfield Asset Management will have right of first refusal for financing and owning the project, with a Final Investment Decision (FID) expected within the next six months. LanzaTech’s proprietary technology is a fermentation process that biologically converts carbon-rich gases into sustainable raw materials, such as ethanol, for use in clothing, personal care products, packaging, fuel, and more. The facility’s maximum production capacity is expected to be 24 kilotons per annum of fuel-grade ethanol. Demand markets for this ethanol are wide ranging and include chemicals and sustainable aviation fuel. Given LanzaTech’s growing ethanol product sales business, the company intends to market the produced ethanol through its existing and emerging sales channels. Eramet Norway’s Porsgrunn smelter has two closed furnaces producing manganese alloys. Manganese smelting falls into the category of hard-to-abate, as carbon is necessary for the chemical reduction of manganese ore. Eramet Group, headquartered in France, is engaged in an ambitious decarbonization pathway, with a target of a 40% reduction of its scope 1 & 2 emissions by 2035 set by the company’s “Act for positive mining” CSR roadmap. CCUS has been identified by Eramet as a major lever of decarbonization for its metallurgical assets. The planned integration of LanzaTech’s CCU process with CCS technology demonstrates the ability of LanzaTech’s carbon recycling platform to partner with and enable other carbon management technologies to further reduce carbon footprints. Residual output from LanzaTech’s gas fermentation process at this facility will take the form of highly concentrated CO2, suitable for CCS, which reduces further operating and capital costs compared to a standalone CCS project.