MBI is a non-profit company, committed to accelerating bio-based and sustainable technologies to commercialization, through its pioneering derisking process. In addition to derisking technologies for clients, MBI is working to commercialize 3 major bio-based technologies, the most revolutionary of these being the AFEX biomass pretreatment.<\/p>\n
At MBI (Michigan Biotechnology Institute), I oversee the development of biobased technology. The next 12 months will be a hugely exciting time as we push three technologies to commercialization\u201dthe most dramatic of these being AFEX (named one of 2014\u2019s most transformative technologies in the Transformative Pretreatment section, Biofuels Digest, March 11, 2014). MBI is finalizing plans to transition AFEX from pilot to commercial scale over the next five years. This technology has the potential to revolutionize cellulosic biorefinery logistics through the use of low-density energy crops and agricultural residues and kick-starting the second generation bioeconomy by providing a versatile and transportable cellulosic feedstock.<\/p>\n
The industry needs to achieve widespread legitimacy. I still hear skepticism about how biobased technologies can compete against petrochemicals, despite the huge strides that have already been made. We need to see more examples of biobased technologies that can stand up to that rigor\u201dprecisely the type of technologies that MBI accelerates<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to remove the hype that some companies employ to sell their technologies. Over-hyping technologies that subsequently fail to deliver hurts the industry as a whole and makes future investment tougher to obtain.<\/p>\n
To use science to help solve one of the most fundamental challenges of our time: how to provide for a growing human population without destroying the Earth\u2019s environment in the process. Eliminating the human race\u2019s dependence on unsustainable resources is imperative. It\u2019s that challenge and dream that gets me up each morning.<\/p>\n
The United Kingdom, originally Staffordshire, but I spent 10 years in Yorkshire before immigrating to the USA in 2001.<\/p>\n
I studied Applied Biology at the University of Cardiff and Microbial Biochemistry at the University of Hull. I selected Cardiff as they allowed a year in industry as part of the course (in hindsight a hugely beneficial thing) and Hull because of the concentration in industrial biotechnology that I really wanted to focus on.<\/p>\n
Mr. Brian Hopton (my high school biology teacher) and Colin Ratledge (my PhD supervisor at University of Hull, UK) both played immense roles in opening my eyes to the wonders of biology and the opportunities that are available for the use of biology to make a positive impact.<\/p>\n
You have to \u201cdo what you believe in, and believe in what you do.\u201d If you are merely half-hearted\u201dor not fully committed\u201dto what you are doing, then it\u2019s very hard to get through when things get tough.<\/p>\n
Endurance sports, ultra-running, and adventure racing.<\/p>\n
Born to Run (Christopher McDougall) and An Astronaut\u2019s Guide to Life on Earth (Col. Chris Hadfield). Both are non-fiction accounts of people achieving incredible things, through the power of the human spirit; following their dreams; and hard work.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve only just discovered Michigan\u2019s Upper Peninsula within the past 5 years. This area is spectacular\u201da real hidden gem in both summer and winter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tell us about your company and it\u2019s role in the Advanced Bioeconomy. MBI is a non-profit company, committed to accelerating bio-based and sustainable technologies to commercialization, through its pioneering derisking process. In addition to derisking technologies for clients, MBI is working to commercialize 3 major bio-based technologies, the most revolutionary of these being the AFEX […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[],"supplier":[8390,9181],"class_list":["post-24441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","supplier-biofuels-digest","supplier-mbi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24441"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=24441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}