Synata Bio lands $4.5M grant from China’s NDRC for waste carbon-to-ethanol facility

In Illinois, Synata Bio has been awarded a $4.5 million grant from China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) for its Sylonto project. Sylonto is a joint venture formed in early 2023 to deploy Synata Bio’s technology into a commercial waste carbon-to-ethanol facility integrated into the Henan Energy Group’s chemicals production site, Henan Longyu. The joint venture includes Synata Bio (technology provider), Henan Longyu (chemical plant host), Zhicheng (financing partner) and HOTO Engineering (engineering partner and site contractor). When completed, Sylonto will transform on-site waste gases into 50,000 tons of chemical-grade ethanol per year, with plans to expand that to 500,000 tons annually by 2028.

The $4.5 million grant, which was issued by the China Central Government budget through provincial NDRC recommendation, draws from funds dedicated for energy-saving and carbon reduction projects that further the country’s goal to become carbon neutral by 2060. To qualify, projects must embrace a “double-carbon” strategy with a 5-star difficulty rating. Less than 10 are awarded out of the thousands of projects that apply annually.