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Syngenta to Introduce High-Amylase Corn Seed in US for Easier Ethanol Production
21 April 2006
Shanghai Daily. Syngenta AG, the world’s biggest maker of agrichemicals and plant seed, will introduce the first enzyme-enhanced corn seed designed to cut the cost of the production of ethanol into the US market in 2007.
Syngenta modified the seeds genetically to express high levels of a novel alpha-amylase enzyme—a thermal-tolerant digestive enzyme that turns the corn’s starch into sugar for ethanol. The company expects sales to be “significant,” according to David Jones, Syngenta’s head of seed development.
The engineered seeds are designed to reduce costs by eliminating the need for mills to add liquid enzymes. The seeds don’t increase the yield, they just make it easier to process. In describing the work in 2002, Syngenta estimated that the high-amylase seeds could cut production costs by 10%.
Syngenta has been working on the high-amylase corn in conjunction with Diversa, which has, in turn, been working with Valley Research to launch the new alpha-amylase enzyme designed to improve the efficiency and economics of corn ethanol production. (Earlier post.)
Syngenta has also introduced a genetically-modified corn—Syngenta Bt—that protects itself against the corn borer insect. Syngenta modified the corn by inserting a gene (Cry1Ab) naturally occuring in a soil bacterium—bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)—that expresses a protein that stops the corn borers.
April 21, 2006 in Biotech, Ethanol | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (1)
Comments
Posted by: Cervus | April 21, 2006 at 11:38 PM
Yes it would. Now you would not have to make/extract/ transport enzymes from other sources. It would likely also reduce costs.
Posted by: allen zheng | April 22, 2006 at 06:09 AM
The energy saved in transporting enzymes is trivial compared to the energy used in distillation.
Posted by: tom deplume | April 22, 2006 at 11:08 AM
This is great stuff. The battle for energy independance will be won by biotechnology as we engineer new ways of producing liquid fuels whether used in a gasoline style engine or a diesel one (or whatever).
This is a step on the ethanol road. There will be many down both roads and roads as yet unknown.
This is a trend to watch. Oil at > $70/barrel makes biofuel adoption a certainty.
The question is how quickly can it be done and at what cost (economic and environmental).
This is not to ignore economy and hybridisation. They are the other pieces of the jigsaw.
Posted by: mahonj | April 22, 2006 at 02:34 PM
There will never be enough corn to run our cars on. Maybe cars should run on methanol, which can be cheaply made from coal?
Posted by: joe Rocker | April 24, 2006 at 09:01 AM
You can recapture the heat during post distillation ops to heat up the next batch. With a long continuous run of batches, and proper insulation, the costs in energy drops.
Also, I wonder if the oil refineries use the process, pre-heating the crude with hot distillates via conduction plates/pipes. They alreasy got co-generation of steam and electricity, do they have something like this?
Posted by: allen zheng | April 24, 2006 at 01:57 PM
____You can recapture the heat during post distillation ops to heat up the next batch. With a long continuous run of batches, and proper insulation, the costs in energy drops.
____CELLUOSE ETHANOL and WASTE OIL/PLANT OIL BIODIESEL. Maybe some algae along with. Palm and coconut oils, unpopular due to high proportion of unhealthy saturated fats, would be usefull. Extraction of protiens, vitamins and minerals may be possible, though more studies, R&D would be needed. The trees would also bear yearly crops.
____Also, I wonder if the oil refineries use the process, pre-heating the crude with hot distillates via conduction plates/pipes. They alreasy got co-generation of steam and electricity, do they have something like this?
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Tracked on Apr 22, 2006 5:04:39 PM
Would this also improve the energy balance? Any incremental improvement would help...