Innovators

LanzaTech

LanzaTech developed a novel gas to liquid technology which opens up vast new sources for making low carbon chemicals that can replace petroleum without competing with food. The process can converts waste gases from sources such as waste forest biomass, municipal solid waste, and industrial gases to fuel. The company uses a bacterium, Clostridium autoethanogenum, for its fermentation. The bacterium can eats carbon monoxide and emits ethanol without using water or land resources. This process significantly lower the production cost and offers a capital efficient carbon capture solution. The low cost energy production enables regional production with local waste and residues such as industrial flue gas, gasified biomass waste and residues, and many others. LanzaTech’s in house synthetic biology capability provides flexibility for further engineering and development of its microbes for improvement and adaptation for different circumstance.

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Algenol

Algenol is a global, industrial biotechnology company that commercialized its algae technology for production of biofuels. Algenol’s high yielding photobioreactors and a proprietary downstream separation technique enables the low cost production of ethanol, gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel at around $1.30 per gallon. The two-step process utilized all parts of algae converting more than 85% of the feedstock into fuel yielding around 8000 gallon of liquid fuel per acre per year. The company use a non invasive, non toxic and non plant pest blue green algae as biomass, The algae is first processed for ethanol then the used algae is converted into biodiesel, gasoline and jet fuel. Algenol has developed wide array of technologies to improve production of biofuel and continue invest in researching algae based technologies.

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GranBio

GranBio is a Brazilian biotech company that transforms biomass into renewable products including biofuels, biochemicals, nano materials and nutrients. The company has a chain of production from raw material to distribution of the final product integrating its own technologies. In September of 2014, GranBio operates the first commercial scale second generation biofuel plant in the Southern Hemisphere. The factory, Bioflex 1, produce biofuel from sugarcane straws and bagasses which in the past are simply discarded and burned in the field. GranBio has a Synthetic Biology Research Center and Experimental Station that research on all aspect of production, from microorganisms’ genetic improvement, biomass processing, to fermentation and enzymatic hydrolysis technique.

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Solazyme Inc.

Solazyme Inc. is a U.S. biotechnology company that uses its technology to transform microalgae into tailored oil that can be used for fuel, food, personal care products, industrial products and many other applications. Unlike the traditional open pond approach on growing algae, Solazyme grows microalgae in closed container utilizing “indirect photosynthesis” and fed with a variety of sugar feedstocks which the microorganism then converts into various types of oil. The microalgae used are algae strains that can natively convert a variety of sugars directly into oil and can grow without sunlight. The protein, fibers and other compounds can also be used and sell as bioproducts. The Solazyme screened more than ten thousand microalgae strains and selected just the few that are just right.

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DuPont

DuPont is a company that focused on developing innovation that help the world. DuPont has many innovations in the biofuel sector including enzymes in both first and second generation biofuel enabling biofuel production to be efficient and cost effective. The company developed an enzyme line, the SPEZYME® line of alpha amylase enzymes that offers advantages such as robust liquefaction and viscosity reduction at various temperatures and pH levels. The ethanol production enzyme often works with DuPOnt’s fermentation additive such as DuPontTM FermaSure® XL that rapidly decreases harmful bacteria and improve ethanol fermentation rates and efficiency. DuPont's innovative enzyme technology leads to more than 68 billion liters of first-generation bioethanol each year saving an estimate of around 31 million metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. In addition, DuPont is currently building one of the first large scale cellulosic ethanol production plant

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POET

POET is a biorefining company that is one of the world largest producers of ethanol and other biorefined products. POET has 27 ethanol plants spread across the United States producing both cellulosic ethanol and corn ethanol. The company’s innovations includes distillers grains branded Dakota Gold, Voila™, a high quality corn oil derived from the patented POET BPX® dry mill ethanol process that can be use in a variety of industrial process including biodiesel and renewable oil, and INVIZ™ zein.

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