Twitter headlinesBiobutanol
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Gevo Biobutanol Retrofit Plant Starts Up; Gevo Launches Development Company to Retrofit Ethanol Plants
September 30, 2009
Gevo, Inc., a biobutanol and renewable hydrocarbons company, announced the start up of its first biobutanol demonstration plant designed from retrofitting an existing demonstration scale ethanol plant to produce biobutanol. (Earlier post.) In successfully producing biobutanol at the 1 million gallon per year pilot plant in St. Joseph, Missouri, Gevo is demonstrating the viability of its technology for retrofitting existing ethanol plants to make biobutanol.
Gevo’s biobutanol can be blended directly into gasoline. Gevo’s technology also enables using the biobutanol for the production of renewable hydrocarbons such as isooctene and isooctane for the gasoline market, renewable jet fuel and renewable diesel blendstocks. In addition, Gevo’s technology enables the production of a wide variety of chemicals such as isobutylene and paraxylene from renewable resources.
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Researchers Develop New Bacterial Strain with Higher Butanol Tolerance; Potential to Double the Output of Biobutanol from Conventional Bacterial Fermentation
August 20, 2009
Researchers at Ohio State University and Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, have developed a method that can double the output of biobutanol compared to conventional bacterial fermentation through the use of a new strain of bacteria and a new bioreactor. They reported their results at the 238th national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, DC.
Under conventional production in a bacterial fermentation tank, the high toxicity of butanol results in a low butanol titer (about 15 grams per liter); i.e., with increasing butanol concentration in the tank, the environment becomes too toxic for the bacteria to survive. This heavily affects the economics of biobutanol production.
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31st Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals; Some New Approaches for Producing Butanol
May 04, 2009
The 31st Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals, a special conference of the Society for Industrial Microbiology, began yesterday in San Francisco with its largest group of conferees yet—approximately 850.
The academic conference, hosted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), runs through Wednesday and features a large technical program, comprising fourteen dual sessions for the presentation of papers and approximately 400 posters. Technical topics range from plant, enzyme and microbial science and technology to biomass pretreatment to biorefinery deployment and sustainability issues. A great deal of the focus of the event is on optimizing different aspects of cellulosic ethanol production.
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Study Finds Strong Synergy Between Spark Ignition Engine Downsizing and Low-to-Moderate Alcohol Blend Fuels
May 01, 2009
A study by engineers from Mahle Powertrain Ltd and BP found strong synergy between spark ignition (SI) engine downsizing and fuel containing low-to-moderate amounts of alcohol, including ethanol and butanol. The team presented a paper on their work at the recent SAE 2009 World Congress in Detroit.
The researchers found that the combination of technologies allowed improvements in fuel economy over the engine drive cycle. Furthermore, a reasonable improvement in dilution tolerance could be achieved at higher engine loads, which could eliminate over-fueling requirements under such conditions.
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Total Invests in Series D Round of Butanol and Renewable Hydrocarbons Company Gevo
April 28, 2009
Oil and gas major Total has invested an undisclosed amount in the series D round of advanced biofuels company Gevo.
Gevo was founded in 2005 by Drs. Frances Arnold, Matthew Peters and Peter Meinhold of the California Institute of Technology. The company is focused on the development of advanced biofuels and renewable chemicals based on isobutanol and its derivatives. Gevo’s technology enables the cost-effective, practical production of renewable hydrocarbons such as isooctene and isooctane for the gasoline market, renewable jet fuel and renewable diesel blendstocks. Gevo has already produced renewable gasoline and jet fuel that meet or exceed all ASTM specifications.
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Diesel Brewing to Manufacture Cellulosic Biobutanol from Biomass and Manure With Thermochemical Process
April 21, 2009
Oregon-based Diesel Brewing has launched an initiative to manufacture cellulosic biobutanol from biomass and dairy farm manure. Biobutanol can be blended into conventional gasoline or diesel stocks without engine modifications. Compared to ethanol, it has higher energy content, is substantially less corrosive, and can be transported utilizing existing fuel pipelines and containers.
Butanol is certified by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an additive agent in gasoline up to 11%. Tests conducted at Argonne National Laboratory have shown that 20% butanol-diesel blends can be successfully used in engines calibrated for 100% diesel fuel. Results showed that butanol mixed with diesel can reduce emissions of criteria pollutants.
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JBEI Researchers Engineer Yeast to Produce n-Butanol
December 06, 2008
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| n-butanol production by the different strains. Click to enlarge. |
Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), led by Dr. Jay Keasling at UC Berkeley, have engineered the common industrial yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae with an n-butanol biosynthetic pathway, resulting in a ten-fold improvement in n-butanol production from one of the strains to 2.5 mg/L. An open access paper on their work was published online 3 December in the journal Microbial Cell Factories.
Butanol has a number of advantages over ethanol for use as a biofuel—it is more hydrophobic; has a higher energy density; can be transported through existing pipeline infrastructure; and can be mixed with gasoline at any ratio.
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Gevo and ICM Ally to Commercialize Production of Butanols and Hydrocarbons From Retrofitted Ethanol Plants
November 05, 2008
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| Synthetic networks for non-fermentative alcohol production from glucose in engineered E. coli developed by Dr. Liao at UCLA and licensed by Gevo. The red arrows represent the two-step conversion (KDC/ADH) of 2-keto acids to alcohols. Click to enlarge. Adapted from Atsumi et al. 2008 |
Gevo, Inc. and ICM, Inc. have formed a strategic alliance for the commercial development of Gevo’s Integrated Fermentation Technology (GIFT) that enables the production of isobutanol and hydrocarbons from retrofitted ethanol plants.
Under terms of the agreement, Gevo’s demonstration plant will be located at ICM’s St. Joseph, Mo., biofuels research center. ICM will serve as the exclusive engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the retrofit of ethanol plants utilizing GIFT. Gevo will be ICM’s exclusive technology partner for the production of butanols, pentanols and propanols. Gevo says that the strategic alliance will reduce the time needed to reach commercial scale and provide a competitive advantage as Gevo executes its global development plans.
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Cobalt Biofuels Raises $25 Million to Commercialize Biobutanol
October 20, 2008
California-based Cobalt Biofuels has raised $25 million in equity to accelerate the commercialization of its cost-effective biochemical process for biobutanol production. Cobalt says that the advantages of its process are based on advances in microbial strain improvement, fermentation reaction management, and separation technology.
The Series C equity round was co-led by LSP and Pinnacle Ventures and included both new and existing investors. The Series C round had strong participation from Cobalt Biofuels’ existing institutional investors, including Pinnacle Ventures, Vantage Point Venture Partners, The Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund and @Ventures. New investors included LSP and Harris and Harris. Fouad Azzam, General Partner of LSP, will be joining the Board.
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Integrated SSFR Process Could Make Cellulosic Biobutanol More Competitive with Ethanol
October 17, 2008
Researchers at the US Agricultural Research Service (ARS) are refining an integrated method of producing cellulosic biobutanol that could make it more competitive with ethanol as an alternative to gasoline. (Earlier post.)
Research team leader Nasib Qureshi began investigating the production of cellulosic biobutanol from wheat straw in 2003. His initial fermentation-based process involved the usual four sequential steps in such an approach (pre-treatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation using Clostridium bacteria, and recovery). Qureshi and colleagues then devised a way to consolidate three of the four steps into a simultaneous saccharification, fermentation and recovery (SSFR) process.
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GM Developing Global Advanced Biofuels Program
October 13, 2008
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| A portion of the current biofuels component of GM’s roadmap to improved energy diversity and reduced emissions. Click to enlarge. |
GM has been steadily building a global advanced biofuels program as one element of its efforts to reduce the use of petroleum and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
The company’s approach goes beyond simply trying to generate support for flex-fuel vehicles (“Live Green, Go Yellow”, earlier post) and fostering an E85 refueling infrastructure in the US. The more aggressive focus on advanced biofuels has resulted in its investment in two emergent lignocellulosic ethanol companies—Coskata (earlier post) and Mascoma (earlier post)—as well as the establishment of a collaborative bioenergy research center based at Tsinghua University in China as part of its larger Global Energy System Center work.
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BP: Biofuels Could Potentially Account for up to 30% of Global Transportation Fuel by 2030
October 09, 2008
Based on announced targets and pending regulations, BP’s assessment is that biofuels could account for between 11 and 19% of the transport fuel market by 2030. The company also thinks there is a possibility, if the industry can address some of the land, feedstock and technology issues that exist today, for up to 30% biofuels penetration into transportation by 2030, according to Susan Ellerbusch, VP Global Biofuels for BP.
Delivering that aggressive quantity of more than 600 billion liters (158.5 billion gallons US) of biofuels by 2030 would require progress particularly in the area of cellulosic biofuels, Ellerbusch said in a talk at Platts 3rd Annual Cellulosic Ethanol and Biofuels conference in Chicago (9-10 October).
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USDA & DOE Release National Biofuels Action Plan; UN FAO Report Calls For Review of Biofuels Policies
October 07, 2008
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| NBAP top-level advanced biofuels commercialization timeline. Click to enlarge. |
The US Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Energy (DOE) released the National Biofuels Action Plan (NBAP), an interagency plan detailing the collaborative efforts of Federal agencies to accelerate the development of a sustainable biofuels industry.
Separately, in a new edition of its annual publication The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) 2008, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) called for an urgent review of biofuel policies and subsidies to preserve the goal of world food security, protect poor farmers, promote broad-based rural development and ensure environmental sustainability.
