Air Company is an American

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

company, beverage maker, and producer of

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl ...

products based in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Founded in 2017 by Gregory Constantine and Stafford Sheehan, Air Company's chief product is

vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuritie ...

made from

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

, a

greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorbs and Emission (electromagnetic radiation), emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse ...

that significantly contributes to

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

, which the process captures and converts to ethanol pure enough for human consumption. The company first released its

carbon negative Carbon dioxide removal (CDR), also known as negative emissions, is a process in which carbon dioxide gas () is removed from the atmosphere and sequestered for long periods of time. Similarly, greenhouse gas removal (GGR) or negative greenho ...

vodka in November 2019 in the

New York City area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, at , and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The vast metropolitan area ...

. Air Company is also developing its ethanol production process for use in producing other products. This includes working with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

as part of the CO₂ Conversion Challenge to produce

glucose Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula . Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, using ...

for use in space as a food source.

History

Air Company was founded in 2017 by Gregory Constantine, who previously worked as a marketer for beverage producer

Diageo Diageo plc () is a Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweich ...

, and Stafford Sheehan, a chemist with a Ph.D. from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. Sheehan created a process for producing

from

, a

that significantly contributes to

. In 2019, the company opened a facility in the

Bushwick Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Par ...

neighborhood of

. Constantine serves as chief executive officer, and Sheehan serves as chief technical officer of the company. Air Company was the winner of the 2017

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Ideas4Change award. In 2019, Air Company won a gold medal in the Ultra Premium

category after a blind taste test at the Luxury Masters competition held annually by ''

The Spirits Business ''The Spirits Business'' is a British magazine aimed at distillers, distillery proprietors and other spirits industry professionals that concentrates on the fine spirits end of the beverage industry. History and profile ''The Spirits Business' ...

'' magazine. In May 2019, Air Company was one of five winners of the first phase of

's CO₂ Conversion Challenge, part of the

Centennial Challenges The Centennial Challenges are NASA space competition inducement prize contests for non-government-funded technological achievements by American teams. Origin NASA's Centennial Challenge Program (CCP) directly engages the public at large in the p ...

. The company is working with NASA to explore the use of ethanol created by its process to produce

for use in space as a food source. The company officially released its first vodka in November 2019 in the New York City area, including at Michelin-star restaurants like

Eleven Madison Park __NOTOC__ Eleven Madison Park is a New American fine dining restaurant located inside the Metropolitan Life North Building at 11 Madison Avenue in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, New York City. It has retained 3 Michelin stars since 2012 ...

and

Gramercy Tavern Gramercy Tavern is a New American restaurant located at 42 East 20th Street (between Broadway and Park Avenue S.), in the Flatiron District in Manhattan, New York City. It is owned by Danny Meyer, along with Chef/Partner Michael Anthony. The Ex ...

. As of March 2020, Air Company was one of ten finalists for the Carbon XPrize which awards two prizes of $7.5 million to teams that develop the most financially profitable uses for carbon dioxide. By then, more than 60 venues in

had committed to selling the vodka in their establishments before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2020, Air Vodka was recognized by ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine as one of "The Best Inventions of 2020". As the pandemic began to spread, Air Company began using the process to produce

hand sanitizer Hand sanitizer (also known as hand antiseptic, hand disinfectant, hand rub, or handrub) is a liquid, gel or foam generally used to kill many viruses/bacteria/microorganisms on the hands. In most settings, hand washing with soap and water is ge ...

. Other uses in development also include perfumes and rocket fuel. Air Company is also creating a facility in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

that is about ten times the size of its Brooklyn distillery. By May 2022, Air Company had raised $40 million in funding including from

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

JetBlue JetBlue Airways Corporation (stylized as jetBlue) is a major American low cost airline, and the seventh largest airline in North America by passengers carried. The airline is headquartered in the Long Island City neighborhood of the New York C ...

, and Parley for the Oceans.

Production process

Air Company uses

heterogeneous catalysis In chemistry, heterogeneous catalysis is catalysis where the phase of catalysts differs from that of the reactants or products. The process contrasts with homogeneous catalysis where the reactants, products and catalyst exist in the same phase. Ph ...

hydrogenate Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to reduce or saturate organic ...

carbon dioxide () to produce ethanol (). The catalyst developed by Sheehan, unlike other catalysts used in hydrogenation, contains no

precious metal Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value. Chemically, the precious metals tend to be less reactive than most elements (see noble metal). They are usually ductile and have a high lustre. ...

s. It produces ethanol sufficiently pure enough for use in beverages, foods, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, cleaning products, and fragrances with oxygen and water as the only byproducts. It also creates less of other alcohol byproducts such as

propanol There are two isomers of propanol. * 1-Propanol, ''n''-propanol, or propan-1-ol : CH3CH2CH2OH, the most common meaning *2-Propanol, Isopropyl alcohol, isopropanol, or propan-2-ol : (CH3)2CHOH See also * Propanal (propionaldehyde) differs in sp ...

butanol Butanol (also called butyl alcohol) is a four-carbon alcohol with a formula of C4 H9 O H, which occurs in five isomeric structures (four structural isomers), from a straight-chain primary alcohol to a branched-chain tertiary alcohol; all are a b ...

, and

pentanol An amyl alcohol is any of eight alcohols with the formula C5H12O. A mixture of amyl alcohols (also called amyl alcohol) can be obtained from fusel alcohol. Amyl alcohol is used as a solvent and in esterification, by which is produced amyl acetate a ...

. The CO₂ captured in the production of a bottle of Air Vodka is roughly equivalent to the carbon dioxide consumed by eight trees in a day. Air Vodka has a net-negative CO₂ emissions level of 1.45 to 1.47 per a mass unit of ethanol produced. Its CO₂ supply comes mostly from the byproducts of traditional alcohol producers and ethanol factories that use fermentation of sugars in their distillery process. The CO₂ is liquefied at a Niagara Falls facility that is powered by hydroelectric energy and transported to Air Company's distillery in Brooklyn. The hydrogen supply is generated by electrolyzing water using

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic e ...

and releases oxygen in the process.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://aircompany.com/ 2021 establishments in New York City Companies based in Brooklyn Engineering companies of the United States