Microsoft Invests $50M Into Deerfield Jet Startup Company

DEERFIELD, IL — A local start-up is set to receive some major funding from Microsoft. LanzaJet, a Deerfield-based sustainable fuels technology company and renewable fuels producer, announced Thursday it has secured financing for its Freedom Pines Fuels plant in Soperton, Georgia, through the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund.

The Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund has made a $50 million investment to support the construction of LanzaJet’s first alcohol-to-jet sustainable aviation fuel production plant. The company said in a news release it's the first plant of its kind in the world.

LanzaJet is hoping the funding will "bring lower-cost sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel to the global market."

Originally called LanzaTech, the 10-year-old company formed a new one, LanzaJet Inc, in June 2020. The mission of LanzaJet Inc, according to its website, is to address sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel needs through the commercialization of ATJ technology.

LanzaJet, headquartered at 520 Lake Cook Road, uses waste-based, sustainable ethanol — that is not made from either food or feed — as a building block to produce its fuels.

The company also said the investment from Microsoft creates an opportunity for LanzaJet and the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund to work together in enabling LanzaJet, through the Freedom Pines Fuels plant, to catalyze the market for second generation, waste-based ethanol feedstock, demonstrating clear demand signals for ethanol that can achieve greater carbon reductions.

The LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels plant is expected to achieve mechanical completion this year and begin producing 10 million gallons of SAF and renewable diesel per year from sustainable ethanol, including from waste-based feedstocks, in 2023, according to the news release.

The investment was made as part of Microsoft’s efforts to achieve a goal of becoming carbon negative and advancing a net-zero economy by 2030. It also allows Microsoft to access sustainable, renewable diesel for its data centers to enable Microsoft to further achieve its net-zero goals.