LanzaTech buy’s into US bioenergy company The technology to transform wood into ethanol on a large scale has yet to be developed. LanzaTech, the company that purchased Range Fuels’ assets in a foreclosure sale in January, may just be the first. The sale of Range Fuel’s assets was arranged after the Department of Agriculture (USDA) rejected a deal that would allow the company to transfer its debt obligations as well as its facility and equipment to LanzaTech.It turns out the New Zealand-based company, which has developed a proprietary gas-liquid fermentation process to produce fuels and chemicals, found a much less expensive way to acquire Range’s assets. On January 3, 2012, they purchased the Soperton, Georgia facility for US$5.1 million. Under the name Freedom Pines Biorefinery, the Soperton plant will be LanzaTech’s first production facility. According to LanzaTech’s website, the company will “leverage some of the existing technology at the facility alongside [its] own proprietary technology to produce clean, renewable and domestic fuels and chemicals from the bountiful waste biomass in the region.” As LanzaTech’s head of external relations, Freya Burton, told Melody M. Bomgardner of Chemical & Engineering News: “We are planning to leave up some of the plant’s technology—potentially the gasifier. If it works, that would be fantastic”. If the gasifier does not work, she adds, it is still a good buy for the firm. “We got the facility for its location and access to cheap feedstock from local timber operations.” Source: Forest2Market |
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