LanzaTech increases share ownership of LanzaJet

LanzaTech Global Inc., the carbon recycling company transforming waste carbon into sustainable fuels, chemicals, and materials, on June 20 announced an increase in its holdings of LanzaJet Inc., a leading sustainable aviation fuel technology provider and fuels producer.

This ownership increase is in accordance with a previously signed agreement which allows LanzaJet to further sublicense the alcohol-to-jet (ATJ” technology originally developed by LanzaTech in collaboration with the Pacific Northwest National Lab and the U.S. Department of Energy, which enables the conversion of ethanol to sustainable aviation fuel, or “SAF”, in exchange for additional equity issued to LanzaTech.

On June 18, 2024, LanzaTech received the first of what is anticipated to be a total of three tranches of LanzaJet common stock, which are projected in the aggregate to more than double the Company’s ownership percentage in LanzaJet. This first issuance of common stock, which increases LanzaTech’s ownership in LanzaJet to approximately 36% from approximately 23%, is a result of LanzaJet’s signed license and engineering agreement with Jet Zero Australia. Jet Zero Australia is developing Australia’s first ethanol to sustainable aviation fuel plant, and LanzaJet’s Freedom Pines Fuels, located in Soperton, Georgia, is the reference plant for the project.

As LanzaJet scales its global deployment and seeks to further sublicense the ATJ technology, LanzaTech’s interest in LanzaJet is also expected to further increase, with the second and third equity issuances projected to bring LanzaTech’s ownership in LanzaJet to approximately 46% and 53%, respectively, over the next 12 to 18 months, depending on the pace of project development and the deployment of LanzaJet’s ATJ technology, among other factors.

LanzaTech and LanzaJet are actively collaborating on several projects whereby LanzaJet will take ethanol from LanzaTech’s proprietary waste-to-ethanol biorefining platform and convert it to drop-in SAF using its proprietary, leading ATJ technology. The SAF produced through this process can reduce aviation emissions by a minimum of 85%, depending on the technology and feedstock selection, among other factors. The pipeline of opportunities that exists for these types of collaborative biofuel solutions is expected to be a key pathway for LanzaJet to license its technology with the potential to expedite the second and third tranches of shares expected to be issued to LanzaTech.