How is Carbon-Negative Chemical Production via gas fermentation leading to circularity? Meet Michael KÖPKE & Babette PETTERSEN from LanzaTech to find out
The climate crisis and rapid population growth pose some of the most urgent challenges to mankind, intensifying the need for the deployment of carbon capture and utilisation technologies. Gas fermentation using carbon-fixing microorganisms offers a solution with unique feedstock and product flexibility, compared to other available gas-to-liquid technologies. LanzaTech has pioneered the commercialisation of a gas fermentation process for the conversion of steel mill emissions into ethanol. Advancements in process technology and synthetic biology enable a broad range of feedstocks, including emissions from various industries, or syngas generated from any waste biomass resource, to be converted into a wide range of molecules, realising a circular economy. Acetone and isopropanol are important industrial bulk and platform chemicals, exclusively produced from fossil resources today. By engineering the gas fermenting biocatalyst, we have developed a new sustainable route that offers over 160% greenhouse gas savings. Through a combination of modelling, strain engineering and process development we have optimised flux to achieve commercially relevant production rates and scaled the process.
Dr Michael KÖPKE is a pioneer in Synthetic Biology in the field of carbon fixing microbes. A seminal study led by him provided a first genetic blueprint of anaerobic gas fermenting microbes, and a demonstration that these gas fermenting microbes can be reprogrammed for the synthesis of fuel and chemicals directly from greenhouse gas emissions and waste resources.
As Vice President of Synthetic Biology at LanzaTech - a company that is revolutionising the way the world thinks about waste carbon by treating it as an opportunity, rather than a liability - Michael is at the helm of LanzaTech’s genetic tools and strain development efforts, and is also responsible for a number of R&D collaborations with both industrial and academic partners.
He holds a PhD from the University of Ulm and has over 15 years’ experience in the Biotech field. He is one of the recipients of the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge award for Greener Synthetic Pathways, has filed over 100 patents and authored over 40 peer-reviewed articles. Michael serves as adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University, and is scientific advisor to/ board member of a number of organisations such as the Engineering Biology Research Consortium or the Joint Genome Institute, amongst others.
Babette PETTERSEN is VP Europe for LanzaTech, a pioneer in carbon capture technology that turns waste streams into ethanol that can be used for fuels and chemicals. Before joining LanzaTech, Babette was Director of Business Development at Ginkgo Bioworks, an early-stage leader in synthetic biology. Prior to that, she had been Chief Business Development Officer at Capricorn Venture Partners, Chief Commercial Officer at BioAmber, and VP New Business Development for Performance Materials at Royal DSM. Previously, Babette had held marketing and new business development roles in different industry groups at Dow Corning for over 20 years.
Babette has a BSc in Biology from Wellesley College, USA, and an MBA from INSEAD, France. She is currently based in Brussels.
Each Master Session will take up to 2 hours from 9.30AM till noon and will be themed according to the following specific subjects:
Session #1: CCU – Mineralisation – Hydrogen Programme: 20 May
Session #2: Energy storage and batteries recycling Programme: 27 May 2021
The detailed programme and list of speakers are available here.
How to register?
You can register for one or both sessions, à la carte so to speak. Should you opt for a registration to both sessions (full menu formula), a discount will be applied.
Pricing (VAT excluded):
> Members*: €100.00 per Master Session & €175 for both sessions
> Non-Members: €140.00 per Master Session & €245.00 for both sessions
> Students: FREE
Payment is to be made via this payment platform prior to registration process.
Cancellation policy: Please note that no refund will be made for cancellation. However, the registered person may be replaced. In that case, GreenWin has to be informed as soon as possible, and provided with the full details of the surrogate participant, at the following address: conferences@greenwin.be
(*) fee applicable for all members of the Walloon Innovation Clusters. If you are member of another Walloon Innovation Cluster (Wagralim, BioWin, Logistics In Wallonia, MecaTech, Skywin), please, send a proof of your membership to the following address: compta@greenwin.be
Organised by GreenWin in partnership with Wallonia.be , Wallonia region, essenscia Wallonie, John Cockerill, De Smet Engineers & Contractors & Fluxys
Special thanks to:
Carmeuse, Syngulon , TWEED Cluster , ULB, UCLouvain, ULiège, Gembloux AgroBioTech, UNamur and UMons for their support.
