Iogen Receives C$7.7 Million from Canadian Government for Cellulosic Ethanol Project

7 February 2007

Iogen has received a C$7.7 million (US$6.5 million) repayable investment in a C$25.8 million research and development (R&D) project designed to advance its cellulosic ethanol technology.

Iogen uses recombinant DNA-produced enzymes to break apart cellulose in biomass to produce the sugars that are then fermented to make fuel ethanol. In June 1999, Iogen received a repayable government investment to design and complete a demonstration-scale plant to test the cellulose-to-ethanol technology using wheat straw.

Iogen opened its demonstration plant opened in 2003. The new repayable investment will help the company to make upgrades to advance the technology deployed at the demonstration plant.

To be used with Iogen’s cellulosic ethanol process, a feedstock must have at least 60% carbohydrate content, and to remain cost effective, must be available in large quantities. Other feedstocks researched by the company include corn stover, switch grass, miscanthus, oat/barley straw, sugarcane bagasse and hard wood chips.

Major investors in Iogen include Shell, Petro-Canada and the Government of Canada. Shell and Petro-Canada are supporting Iogen’s plans to build a commercial cellulosic ethanol plant in Canada. Iogen is also collaborating with Volkswagen and Shell to assess the economic feasibility of producing cellulosic ethanol in Germany. (Earlier post.)