The last Energy Solutions Forum of the fall semester brought bacteria into the carbon recycling conversation on campus. Johanna Haggstrom spoke at the Energy Solutions Forum in December about using bacteria to recycle carbon and turn it into fuels or other useful chemicals. Haggstrom is the executive vice president of technology and manufacturing at LanzaTech.

LanzaTech uses a gas fermentation process to make ethanol out of carbon. The process is done using a specific microbe that digests carbon-rich feedstocks. LanzaTech also uses artificial intelligence to identify pathways that can be more efficient or that can produce other end products. Identifying those pathways can help the biologists engineer the microbe to create different products.

 “We understand that we still need these types of products, we still need carbon in the world,” Haggstrom said. “The question is, how can we make that feasible? What part can we take in that journey?”

Haggstrom previously worked for an oil and gas service company, where she was initially put on a project to manage water conservation. She enjoyed the sustainability part of the work, but as she progressed in her career, her role shifted further away from sustainability. Then, she found the open position for LanzaTech.

“It just kind of hit home,” Haggstrom said. “I got goosebumps.”

Haggstrom was hired at LanzaTech in 2020. In her current role, Haggstrom oversees six teams, and she said she feels very connected to the science that’s happening at LanzaTech. Haggstrom works with shift operation workers, maintenance, plant engineers, chemical engineers, chemists, analytical chemists, and more to support the company in getting plants running, develop new technical solutions, providing technical support and downstream process support so that the biologists and chemists can determine what processes are working.

One of the unique aspects of LanzaTech is its ability to scale its technology. Haggstrom said that’s a big part of why the company was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Companies last year. The company has six commercial plants currently operating and has sold its recycled carbon ethanol to major companies for use in On Running shoes and a Gucci fragrance, to name a couple. Under a Department of Energy grant, LanzaTech and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory collaborated on developing a process to generate sustainable aviation fuel. The fuel and process are part of a spinoff of LanzaTech called LanzaJet.

Haggstrom feels that while humans continue to emit carbon, we can do it in a way that will minimize the harm done to the planet.

“We're not in a place where we're going to stop using carbon today,” Haggstrom said. “So, what that means is we have to figure out ways to be sustainable about it.”

Haggstrom was the last Energy Solutions Forum speaker of the fall semester. The spring semester’s Energy Solutions Forum will open with a talk by Karen Goldberg from the University of Pennsylvania. Goldberg will discuss how carbon dioxide can be broken down into useful components.