News
April 2010
Microbiogen presents at the SIM 32nd Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals.
Contact us if you would like to receive a copy of this paper entitled "Conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to fuel and food using a non-recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae selectively bred to metabolize xylose".March 2010
Maximising fuel and food production from Sugar Cane
Rising population and demand for fuel – a major challenge
Over the coming decade, the world’s population is expected to jump by over 600 million people. At the same time demand for liquid fuels is expected to rise and many argue that traditional liquid fossil fuels are reaching a peak. There has also been increasing debate about food versus fuel. Commodities like corn and sugar cane can be used as either food, live stock feed or to make biofuels.
A whole range of solutions are required to meet these challenges. The Microbiogen (MBG) “fuel and food” biorefinery concept has the potential to make a significant contribution to solving many of these issues. This analysis focuses on the potential of Brazil and the impact of MBG’s unique technology.
In Brazil, there is already a substantial biofuels industry that produces a large part of the country’s fuel mix from the sugar juice contained in sugar cane. However, nearly two thirds of the biomass is left on the ground or burnt inefficiently in boilers to generate electricity and/or dispose of the large volume of waste biomass.
Microbiogen – “you can have your cake and eat it too”
Microbiogen has developed both an organism and fermentation process that is expected to be integrated into first and second generation sugar cane ethanol production facilities. Estimates in this analysis suggest that total value derived from the Brazilian sugar cane industry will rise significantly – over and above that which may have been achieved by using genetically modified (GM) organisms or other alternatives.
The Microbiogen “fuel and food” biorefinery concept has the potential to dramatically expand the biofuels business, lift revenues for the sugar cane producers and improve nutrition for cattle without requiring any additional land.
Ten times the ethanol – no loss of food production
The analysis has used data generated from “real world” laboratory results and publicly available information is used to benchmark a “typical” exotic and engineered micro-organism against MBG’s fermentation process.
The first iteration.
The first iteration is defined as how much ethanol could be produced using what is available today with respect to current sugar cane production. Under this first iteration, the MBG fermentation process is expected to result in close to double the ethanol production above current levels, should second generation technology be applied across the whole Brazilian industry. Relative to what could be produced by typical GM organisms the MBG process generates almost the same level of increased ethanol production by utilising the sugar cane bagasse and a portion of the trash and tops (leftover sugar cane after harvesting). However, the MBG yeast and process also uniquely generates a high value co-product of protein rich feed.
The second to Nth iteration.
MBG develops a virtuous cycle. By producing significant quantities of high protein feed as a by-product and supplying this to farmers, less land will be required for pasture with more available for sugar cane farming. A virtuous cycle is developed. MBG is the only company that has developed a Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast that can do the fermentation job, clean the waste streams and be sold as a feed additive. The Brazilian ethanol industry has the potential expand ethanol output by a factor of 10 times with no loss of output from the cattle or food industries.
Conservative assumptions have been utilised.
A number of conservative assumptions have been employed in the analysis such as 1kg of (dry) yeast only offsets 2kg of (dry) grass and the maximum mix for cattle is 10% yeast to grass. Under these conservative assumptions the analysis suggests that over 10 times as much ethanol (over 300 billion liters/year) could be produced from Brazil with no extra land required to maintain both cattle and sugar production at current levels.
Five times as much ethanol than the alternative GMO route.
By way of comparison, if a GM organism were used to produce ethanol then the expansion in output is limited to about double current production capacity. Once that limit has been reached, then extra land required by sugar cane farmers would eat away at land used by cattle farmers and by implication, more losses from the Amazon would occur as cattle farmers looked for alternative sources of land.
Lower process risk.
Process risk is expected to be lowered as there is no containment required and a more robust fermentation process is utilised through the use of the industrial grade non-GM yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
One organism carries out three tasks.
The one yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is used to ferment the favourable sugars to ethanol, clean the waste stream of less favourable carbon sources such as acetate, glycerol, xylose and residual carbon in the form of ethanol, glucose, mannose etc., provide a source of high quality protein and vitamins for the human and animal food chain and excess yeast is used for the primary fermentation.
Real world hydrolyzates used and version 1.01 strains now in hand. The yeast strains that Microbiogen has developed are already in hand.
Expect continual improvement.
Unlike many competing GM technologies and simpler organisms such as bacteria, MBG’s breeding programs are expected to continually to improve the yeast strains over time. The first strains are now available for industrial trials.
If you would like a copy of the entire analysis, please send us an email request to the following address:
contact@microbiogen.com
February 2010
Maximising fuel and food production from Corn and Stover
Benchmark analysis:
Opportunities and challenges of the Microbiogen enhanced yeast development program:
Impact on the US corn, food and ethanol industry
Microbiogen has released a detailed 20 page analysis looking at the implications and benefits of its enhanced non-genetically engineered yeast and fermentation process on the US corn and ethanol industry. The benefits and implications are significant. An executive summary of the analysis follows.
Maximising ethanol production from available biomass
The US is already producing significant quantities of fuel ethanol from its corn crop. If this first generation ethanol industry wishes to increase production by a meaningful amount and improve its carbon footprint, it must look towards second generation technologies and utilise the abundant and readily available “waste” stover. In doing so it would reduce the impact of the food vs fuel argument.
Utilising the corn stover not only promises an increase in ethanol production, but also offers a range of other benefits including greater value generated per hectare of corn crop and lower greenhouse emissions per gallon of ethanol produced amongst others.
Microbiogen – “you can have your cake and eat it too”.
Microbiogen (MBG) has developed both an organism and fermentation process that is expected to be integrated into first and second generation corn ethanol production. Estimates in this analysis suggest that total value derived from the US corn crop (plus stover) can be enhanced up to 9% above what could be achieved if one were to use alternative genetically modified organisms. It also suggests that at the same time, the quality of food as a by-product is upgraded, process economics enhanced and process dynamics strengthened. The food versus fuel dilemma is even further diminished.
MBG’s approach is to enhance production and economics
In this analysis, publicly available information is used to benchmark a “typical” exotic and engineered micro-organism against MBG’s fermentation process using its proprietary non-genetically engineered and enhanced yeast – under real world industrial conditions.
• MBG’s non-GM yeast and process is expected to result in the industry delivering more fuel without negatively impacting the food supply. The world’s first true “fuel and food” biorefinery is actually expected to result in higher ethanol output than the “fuel only” model.
• The MBG process likely results in the food supply being upgraded in terms of protein and nutrients. It is also possible to adjust the process to make either more food or fuel.
• Process risk is expected to be lowered as there is no containment required and a more robust fermentation process is utilised through the use of the industrial grade non-GM yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
• By matching the biology to the process, the efficiency of the whole process is expected to be enhanced. Only favourable carbon sources are converted to fuel, with the rest converted to yeast biomass. The net result is a combination of greater value, greater volume of saleable product and, arguably higher margins generated from the waste biomass.
• The one organism is used to ferment the favourable sugars to ethanol, clean the waste stream, provide a source of high quality protein and vitamins for the human and animal food chain and excess yeast is used for the primary fermentation.
• The analysis presented here shows the MBG yeast and process can lead to up to 9% higher sales revenues for the overall corn ethanol industry (ethanol + food) relative to revenues generated using an exotic GM organism. This is likely to be significant as the corn and ethanol business is an industry with relatively low margins.
• The yeast strains that Microbiogen has developed are already in hand.
• While MBG’s breeding programs continue to improve their performance, the first strains are now available for industrial trials.
If you would like a copy of the entire analysis, please send us an email request to the following address:
contact@microbiogen.com