Dyadic Enters into R&D Agreement with Abengoa Bioenergy in the Area of Cellulosic Ethanol Production
27 October 2006
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| Chrysosporium lucknowense is the basis for Dyadic’s enzyme work. |
Dyadic International, a biotechnology company, has signed a three-year research and development (R&D) agreement and a $10-million stock purchase agreement with Abengoa Bioenergy R&D (ABRD).
Dyadic will use the proceeds from this private sale to fund its R&D obligations under the R&D agreement, which has as its objective the development of a cost-effective enzyme production system for commercial application in Abengoa Bioenergy’s cellulosic ethanol production process.
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| Dyadic will work on enzyme mixtures optimized for different biomass substrates. Click to enlarge. |
The R&D agreement calls upon Dyadic to use its proprietary technologies to develop one or more enzyme mixture manufacturing systems customized to ABRD’s proprietary biomass substrates. The R&D agreement contemplates that Dyadic will perform both foundational research of general application to the cellulosic ethanol field and specific applications research for the achievement of the goals of ABRD’s program.
Under the terms of the R&D agreement, if Dyadic successfully develops one or more enzyme manufacturing systems for Abengoa Bioenergy, Dyadic may be entitled to receive license fees, technology transfer fees and royalties on ethanol sales. Other financial terms were not disclosed.
Abengoa Bioenergy is considered to be the second largest ethanol producer in the world and a leader in the fields of both corn-derived and cellulose-derived ethanol production. We are extremely pleased to partner with Abengoa Bioenergy to leverage Dyadic’s patented C1 platform enzyme technology to enable commercial development of biomass derived ethanol.
—Glenn E. Nedwin, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer for Dyadic
Dyadic International, Inc. is engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of biological products using a number of proprietary fungal strains to produce enzymes and other biomaterials, principally focused on a system for protein production based on the patented Chrysosporium lucknowense fungus, known as C1.
In July, Dyadic presented results of an internal study on Dyadic’s proprietary cellulase and hemicellulase mixes with strong saccharifying activity on a number of different lignocellulosic feedstocks, including Douglas fir and cotton.
An internal Dyadic study of two new highly active cellobiohydrolases isolated from C1, as well as a mixture of pure monocomponent enzymes, all demonstrated an extremely high ability to convert different cellulosic substrates to glucose to then be fermented into ethanol. (Earlier post.)
Dyadic is also developing C1 technology to facilitate the discovery, development and large-scale production of human antibodies and other high-value therapeutic proteins.
Resources:
They may be able to apply this to sweet sorghum. It produces ~8-12 tons per acre in stalks, as well as yielding ~600 ga/acre ethanol from sap syrup. It also matures in ~4 months, which may result in ~3 crops a year, climate/weather permitting. This may result in upwards of 1,800 ga/acre ethanol a year, just from sap syrup. With celluostic ethanol, or perhaps biobutanol, this may double. The downside is utilization of nitrogen fertilizer will rise.
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Resources:
http://www.e2.org/ext/doc/AB32BiofuelsV5.pdf
http://msucares.com/crops/sorghum/descriptions.html
http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?seq_no_115=195472
Older, but still usefull data:
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/afcm/syrup.html
Posted by: allen_Z | 27 October 2006 at 12:17 PM
Hi,
sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is an excellent candidate for ethanol plus food, because the sugars are in the stem, and the food is in the grain.
And there is no need for nitrogen fertilizer, as this sorghum can live with the same symbiont as sugar cane in Brazil, which fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere.
See Dr. Kennedy`s page.
http://cals.arizona.edu/PLP/faculty/pages/kennedy.html
Posted by: diazotrophicus | 28 October 2006 at 02:36 PM
Perhaps in Brazil, or other frost free locales. In the US, this does not cover beyond the Gulf/Mexico border states. Perhaps we can find another nitro fixing crop (preferably fast growing/maturing). More radically, splice/mod the genes, and get them to work with sweet sorghum roots, as well as they normally do in sugar cane.
Posted by: allen_Z | 28 October 2006 at 05:27 PM
Hi Alien_Z,
one should not mix up the plant (sugarcane) with the symbiont acetobacter diazotrophicus.
These nitrogen fixing bacteria were discovered in the tropcs, but they thrive in grape in France and in rape (Brassica napus) in Nottingham in England, for instance with a nitrogen fixing bacterium from the tropical plant Sesbania rostrata.
And some live in symbiosis with wheat in Canada, which certainly does get frosty occasionally.
Search the net for "biological nitrogen fixation" and you will be pleasantly surprised.
Stay on the lookout.
yours
Posted by: diazotrophicus | 29 October 2006 at 01:29 AM
Nice.
Posted by: allen_Z | 29 October 2006 at 07:21 AM
Way to go. Nitrogen fertilizer synthesis from fossil fuel is a major energy consumer.
Posted by: Andrey | 30 October 2006 at 03:41 AM
About 1% of fossil energy consumption worldwide go towards fertilizer. The Green Revolution was largely oil/gas fueled.
Posted by: allen_Z | 30 October 2006 at 11:06 AM
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