LanzaTech taps Shell vet as Asia head

In Washington DC, at the Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference (ABLC 2013), LanzaTech announced the appointment of Ken C. Lai as Vice President of its Asia Pacific operations, based in Shanghai. Lai joins LanzaTech from Shell Global Solutions International B.V., where he was General Manager of Licensing and Sales for the Asia Pacific region.

In December 2012, The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which regulates technology in China, reported that LanzaTech’s and Baosteel’s waste-gas-to-ethanol project met international standards regarding gas conversion rates and other technical milestones and gave clearance for the project to officially enter the commercialization phase.

Concurrently at ABLC 2013, LanzaTech and BaoSteel picked up awards for Global Partnership of the Year for the project.

The two companies are currently developing the engineering for a new facility to further scale the process and make steel mill waste gas-biofuel a commercial reality in China. The full scale commercial facility with Baosteel is planned for 2014.  LanzaTech is also currently operating a pre-commercial facility at a Shougang steel facility outside of Beijing.