In Washington, more than 35 companies came under the microscope as delegates at ABLC, the annual bioeconomy leadership conference which continues through Wednesday with more than 100 speakers on the agenda, moved from policy considerations to a look at the new Farm Bill, creative financing, and presentations and discussion on more than 40 companies in the advanced biofuels and chemicals space.<\/p>\n
Delegates heard discussions, evaluations, presentations and updates on more than 35 companies including\u00a0Amyris, Anellotech, BioAmber, Calysta Energy, Cardia Bioplastics, Deinove, Elevance, Endophytics, FKuR, Global Bioenergies, Kiverdi, Lauren Biocomposites, Myriant, NatureWorks, Novomer, Renmatix, Rennovia, Rivertop Renewables, Proterro, Sweetwater Energy, American Process, GreenField Specialty Alcohols, Iogen, Butamax, Green Biologics, OPX Biotechnologies, Imperium Renewables, Virent, Avantium, Maverick Synfuels, ICM, Clariant, Cool Planet, DSM, Coca-Cola, Algenol, Solazyme, and REG.<\/p>\n
News and notes from the ABLC stage and from the world of biofuels:<\/p>\n
\u201cProterro has reached its Q1 sugar-production pilot milestones,\u201d CEO Kef Kasdin reported at ABLC.<\/p>\n
Updating attendees on Proterro\u2019s progress in developing an affordable, clean sugar feedstock for biofuels and biobased chemicals, Kasdin said: \u201cWhile sugar production has begun at low levels, it has been controllable, meaning that we can increase sugar productivity as predicted. We also consistently saw no contamination effect on productivity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn four months of continuous operation at our pilot plant in Orlando, Florida, our robust photobioreactors \u2014 key elements in our patented sugar-making process \u2014 yielded results verifying that our process is scalable,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n
In February, Proterro announced that the USPTO had issued a notice of allowance for a patent protecting the novel photobioreactor, which cultivates Proterro\u2019s patented, sugar-producing cyanobacteria, the other key part of the company\u2019s sugar-making process.<\/p>\n
Learnings from the pilot thus far are leading to improvements in the next-generation photobioreactor being developed with ILC Dover (ILC), the NASA spacesuit maker that specializes in advanced fabrics and engineered inflatables, Kasdin said. She added that an updated iteration of the photobioreactor is due for installation later this quarter.<\/p>\n
In California, the Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation of Alberta, Canada awarded a $500,000 grant to Oakbio, a Sunnyvale, CA-based cleantech company, and The Ohio State University for their proposal submission; \u201cConversion of industrial CO2 emissions into biofuels and chemicals.<\/p>\n
This project has been awarded $500,000 for Round 1 of the CCEMC\u2019s Grand Challenge \u2013 Innovative Carbon Uses program. In this program Oakbio will develop a system for converting carbon dioxide from Alberta industrial fluegas emissions into butanol and other biofuels using the system they developed for production of bioplastics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe CCEMC is thrilled to support Oakbio in their leading efforts to convert industrial carbon dioxide emissions into biofuels and chemicals and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the process,\u201d said CCEMC Chair Eric Newell.<\/p>\n
\u201cButanol is a fuel and feedstock, and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are versatile plastics. Together these products are sufficient in volume of demand to account for the capture of a significant amount of globally produced CO2. The Oakbio process is intended to make that large scale capture and conversion of waste CO2 a profitable business.,\u201d said Oakbio President and Chief Scientist, Brian Sefton.<\/p>\n
A collaboration with Prof. F. Robert Tabita of The Ohio State University to further\u00a0 develop this n-butanol production platform is a key part of this proposal. \u201cSynthetic biology principals will guide the further construction of optimized strains for product formation\u201d said Dr. Tabita.<\/p>\n