NextChem and Lanzatech forge an alliance for circular ethanol production

NextChem is expanding its circular economy and chemical recycling technologies with the addition of circular ethanol production to its circular hydrogen and circular methanol production technologies (currently in the engineering phase) based on the chemical recycling of plastic and dry waste. The company, part of the Maire Tecnimont group, has signed an agreement with US firm LanzaTech to license its Waste to Ethanol process line.

The basic process is the chemical conversion of hydrogen and carbon contained in plasmix and RDF, from which a Circular Gas is obtained for use as a base to produce various chemical products. In LanzaTech’s biological “syngas fermentation” technology, ethanol is produced by bacteria, thereby transforming the Circular Gas at low temperature and low pressure and improving the overall sustainability profile of the process. NextChem will exclusively license this technology in Italy and, on a project basis, in some foreign markets.

NextChem technological integration is one of the most significant innovations in the waste and circular economy sector as it allows for the production of chemical “building blocks” such as hydrogen, methanol and ethanol from currently non-recyclable waste, thereby avoiding the use of fossil sources and reducing climate-changing emissions while increasing the recycle percentage.

“We are expanding our technology portfolio from a strategic perspective: our circular district model and our waste-to-chemicals technology platform are the answers to the problems of reliance on foreign supplies of chemical products, recovery of currently non-recyclable waste fractions, and decarbonization,” says Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of NextChem and Maire Tecnimont. “NextChem aims to supply the market with technological solutions that will completely replace traditional fossil-based chemistry with biochemistry and waste chemistry. We aim to rebuild coal chemistry by entirely excluding coal, an extremely ambitious goal which is now possible.”