Evonik Industries (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) and LanzaTech (Roselle, Ill.; www.lanzatech.com) have signed a three-year research cooperation agreement which will see Evonik combining its existing biotechnology platforms with LanzaTech’s synthetic biology and gas fermentation expertise for the development of a route to bio-processed precursors for specialty plastics from waste-derived synthesis gas. In this route, microorganisms placed in fermenters are used to turn synthesis gas into chemical products. Synthesis gases comprise mainly of either carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide and hydrogen and can come from a variety of gasified biomass waste streams including forestry and agricultural residues and gasified municipal solid waste.
Evonik and LanzaTech to partner on bio-processed precursors for specialty plastics
| By Mary Page Bailey