LanzaTech, with support and funding from Danone, has developed a technology to convert carbon-containing emissions from steel plants or gasified biomass waste into monoethylene glycol (MEG), a key ingredient in PET, resin, fibers and bottles.

The carbon is captured by a special patented bacterium that converts emissions directly into MEG through fermentation, bypassing the need for intermediate ethanol. And although there is no MEG-producing organism in nature, LanzaTech's use of synthetic biology and artificial intelligence has enabled an unprecedented technological breakthrough. By combining and prototyping different sets of enzymes, LanzaTech reprogrammed its ethanol-producing bacteria to fix carbon and convert it into MEG. The direct production of MEGs has been proven under laboratory conditions and the presence of MEGs has been confirmed by two external laboratories.

The new technology avoids several processing steps previously required for the production of MEG: the conversion of ethanol to ethylene, then to ethylene oxide, and only then to MEG. The company expects that, if successfully scaled up, the direct manufacturing process will lead to the production of PET bottles and PET fibers. Moreover, the launch of large-scale production is expected in the near future. Back in 2020, L'Oréal partnered with energy giant Total and LanzaTech to create cosmetic plastic packaging from captured and recycled carbon emissions, which is planned to be commercially available by 2025.

Will the new technology be successful? We dare to assume so. And this will be strongly influenced not only by the environmental aspect of new plastics, but also by the possibility of using less oil resources.

Materials from the website packaginginsights.com were used.