LanzaJet, a spinout of Chicago clean energy company LanzaTech that makes sustainable aviation fuel, landed $50 million from Microsoft to support the construction of its new plant in Georgia.
LanzaJet said Thursday it received the $50 million investment through the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund.
The funds will go toward its facility in Soperton, Georgia, which will become the world's first plant that turns alcohol into jet fuel. LanzaJet says its goal is to bring lower-cost sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel to the market.
The facility, called the LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels plant, is expected to be completed this year and begin producing 10 million gallons of sustainable jet fuel in 2023.
LanzaJet officially spun out from LanzaTech in 2020 with $50 million in funding from Suncor Energy, Japanese investment firm Mitsui & Co., and the U.S. Department of Energy. Its other investors include British Airways, Shell and All Nippon Airways.
The new facility comes as the Biden administration has set a goal for achieving net-zero aviation emissions by 2050, and the White House announced in September a goal of 3 billion gallons of sustainable aviation fuel produced per year by 2030.
As part of that announcement, LanzaJet said it aims achieve 1 billion gallons of sustainable jet fuel production in the U.S. by 2030.
LanzaTech was originally launched by Richard Forster and Sean Simpson in 2005. The company is now led by CEO Jennifer Holmgren. Along with making renewable jet fuel, LanzaTech’s technology also turns waste into chemicals that can be used to build plastics.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect LanzaJet is a spinout from LanzaTech, not a subsidiary.
