LanzaTech the world's hottest bioenergy firm

LanzaTech chief executive Jennifer Holmgren. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand-founded LanzaTech has been named the world's hottest bioenergy company in a prestigious annual list published by United States-based publication Biofuels Digest.

The Chicago-based firm, which was established in Auckland in 2005, beat 49 other firms from across the globe to take the No.1 spot in the "50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy" rankings.

Biofuels Digest said its rankings recognised innovation and achievement in fuels and biorefinery development. The results were 50 per cent based on votes from a panel of international selectors, with the remaining votes coming from the publication's subscribers.

LanzaTech has developed a process that uses gas gobbling microbes to convert waste gases from industrial facilities, such as steel mills, into biofuels.

It raised US$60 million in its latest capital raising in March, including a US$20 million commitment from Japanese industrial conglomerate Mitsui.

The company is currently working with Sir Richard Branson's airline, Virgin Atlantic, which wants to use LanzaTech's fuel in its aircraft within a year.

LanzaTech announced in April that it would shift 30 employees from its Auckland facility to its new research and development hub in the US.

The No.2 ranked firm in the Biofuel Digest list was Brazil's GranBio, which produces fuel from biomass such as sugarcane straw. In third place was Florida-based Algenol, which produces fuel from algae.

LanzaTech estimates that its process is suitable to be applied in 65 per cent of the world's steel mills.