Carbon dioxide to chemical partnership

A major oil company is looking to make acetic acid from carbon dioxide as part of a new partnership.

State-owned Malaysian oil company Petronas will partner will New Zealand firm LanzaTech, which specialises in making fuels and chemicals from industrial waste gases, such as carbon monoxide, by fermentation.

The two companies will investigate the possibility of converting carbon dioxide mixed with other gases into acetic acid, which is an important commodity chemical, most notably used in polymer production.

LanzaTech says that acetic acid represents a $4.5 billion market (9 million tonnes per year) globally. (Via Doris de Guzman at the Green Chemicals Blog.) The company is looking into turning acetic acid into lipids as a route into fuels as well as ingredients for food and cosmetics.