You\u2019ve long noticed that water gathers in beads \u2014 on a leaf in the morning, for example, or dripping from a faucet. That\u2019s surface tension, which is to say that the water is more attracted to itself than to the surface it is encountering, so it essentially rolls up into a ball. Not entirely unlike an uncooperative child.<\/p>\n
Every once in a while, you see something weird like a paper clip floating on water. That\u2019s the same phenomenon. The object can\u2019t be wetted and the forces exerted by surface tension prevent the metal from sinking.<\/p>\n
In the world we live in, we sometimes need to increase wettability or decrease surface tension. Consider laundry. Just like water on a waxy leaf, water in your washing machine won\u2019t get the grease out because water and grease repel each other.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where a surfactant comes in, because it\u2019s a molecule with one end that is attracted to water, and one to oils and greases. The surfactant attaches itself to the dirt or grease, then the water molecule attaches to the surfactant, and together they pull the dirt out of clothing. That\u2019s how soap and detergents work.<\/p>\n
New Paths for the C5s
\nIt\u2019s just one of the many products that, these days, can be made from a C5 molecule such as xylose or arabinose. When we think about C5s \u2014 that are liberated by new technologies from the cellulosic material they reside in, such as woods or plants \u2014 we generally think about them as a sort of \u201cme-too\u201d cousin of traditional C6 sugars like glucose (cane sugar) or dextrose (corn sugar), suitable for fermentation into ethanol. More on the scientific basis for making surfactants from C5s, here.<\/p>\n
But Digesterati such as David Dodds (of Dodds & Associates) and Ron Cascone (of Nexant), also seen frequently on\u00a0 the ABLC stage and on BioChannel.TV, suggest that we are overlooking the usefulness of C5s.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the biorefinery concept becomes real,\u201d says Dodds, \u201cthe stream of 5-carbon sugars (from hemi-cellulose) is going to be a new 5-carbon chemical feedstock. \u00a0It has a greater advantage when seen in this perspective than as \u201cfermentable sugar\u201d. \u00a0Five-carbons is a bit of an orphan at the moment, but it is nicely inside the \u201c4 to 6 carbon deficit\u201d and is odd-numbered. \u00a0The only identifiable 5C bio-based chemical I can easily bring to mind is levulinic acid, and it is struggling to find a decent market. Faced with a reasonably clean and abundant 5C feedstock, I predict the chemical industry will try to find use it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cascone agrees. \u201cC5 sugar (grey) is the new C6 sugar (black). Amyris is the 5-carbon poster child \u2013 farnasene \/farnasane \/squalene, etc. (5\u00d73), d-limonene (5\u00d72), and isoprene (5), but also DuPont-Genencor\/Goodyear, and other isoprene developers. Amyris \/ JBEI was originally funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop (and did) fermentation routes to the malaria drug, artemisinin \u00a0(C15H22O5). It\u2019s a mess of a molecule, but definitely in the C5 family. However, alas, they feed on glucose, fructose, and the like, and I believe the yield of all the isoprene fermentation technologies is still very low.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmyris started on Jay Keasling\u2019s terpene pathway work,\u201d Dodds noted, \u201cand the acquisition of Allylix by Evolva in Switzerland means that Evolva now has a major IP position in terpenes; they are the largest group of natural products.<\/p>\n
But Dodds steers the conversation away from biological conversion quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not just thinking biologicially (gasp!) when I ask what C5 chemicals are out there; the terpene pathway is very carbon-inefficient. \u00a0I was wondering what would come out of a reformer or other by-product stream in the current petro-based chemical processes. \u00a0A starting material to glycols seems fair \u2013 one could theoretically get glycerin and ethylene glycol.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moving from the theoretical to the real-world: Sweetwater Energy
\nOne of the most amazing corporate journeys we\u2019ve seen in recent years parallels this discussion \u2014 that\u2019s the evolution of Sweetwater Energy in the face of the cellulosic biofuels slowdown. Once, Sweetwater was going to content itself as a supplier of cellulosic sugars for all those cellulosic biorefineries that were imminently expected. Not long after the company\u2019s formation came a string of MOUs with prominent firms that were developing along those lines.<\/p>\n
But then there was the screeching halt in cellulosic biorefinery deployment, which the industry attributes to the Obama Administration\u2019s stewardship over the Renewable Fuel Standard. It took, for example, the Administration until two weeks ago to finalize mandated volumes for 2014. And volumes were way below Congressional targets for 2016 and 2016 for reasons that no one can quite yet find in the law.<\/p>\n
As market signals go, it\u2019s about as successful with potential investors as the prospect of a tax audit.<\/p>\n
Sweetwater, no surprise, has repositioned \u2014 and what we except to see is that the company will be producing some product on its own at its first commercial biorefinery \u2014 and that primarily means higher-value chemicals made from sugars, and naturally that brings us to C5s.<\/p>\n
The Sweetwater,Taurus and Lallemand hook-up
\nThough official word from Sweetwater is not yet forthcoming \u2014 they\u2019ve grown shy of \u201cgetting ahead of the story\u201d since the death of all those MOUs \u2014 we had a strong confirmation that this is the new direction when Taurus Energy , with Lallemand Biofuels and Distilled Spirits, signed an LOI with Sweetwater Energy for the supply of XyloFerm to Sweetwater.<\/p>\n
No order values \u200b\u200bor time frames are specified and it is still too early to say when a deal might be finalized, but what\u2019s important is that XyloFerm is a yeast strain for producing ethanol from C6 and xylose streams. XyloFerm\u2019s magic? Offering minimal byproduct formation with a high tolerance for inhibitors common with cellulosic substrates.<\/p>\n
Taurus and Sweetwater themselves hooked-up earlier this year with an agreement for collaboration with respect to the development, marketing, sale and distribution of Taurus\u2019 Gen 2 platform on the U.S. market.<\/p>\n
The Sweetwater rationale
\nFor now, Taurus has not yet completed all the steps for XyloFerm to be used as an ingredient in animal feed. If XyloFerm is approved as a feed component the strain may also be used by ethanol producers who sell their fermentation residues on for use as feed. For now, cellulosic sugars that do not produce an animal feed additional product \u2014 well, they\u2019re ideal.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next?
\nDodds mentions ethylene glycol (MEG) and glycerin. MEG, that\u2019s a key ingredient in Coca-Cola\u2019s Plant Bottle, making up 30% of the clear bottle plastic. There\u2019s a $27B annual market there.<\/p>\n
The search for low-cost, bio-based MEG led Liquid Light and Coca Cola to sign a technology development agreement to accelerate the development of MEG from carbon dioxide. Using Liquid Light technology, an ethanol production facility could make bio-MEG from the CO2 byproduct that results from converting plant material into ethanol. The technology has the potential to reduce both the environmental footprint and the cost of producing MEG.<\/p>\n
As Liquid Light makes clear, current Bio-PET is expensive and it\u2019s a multi-step procedure. So, there\u2019s reason to focus on Liquid Light\u2019s process, which makes MEG from oxalic acid, in turn made from CO2.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s a C5 pathway as well. And with a $27B market to chase, there\u2019s going to be more than one happy landing if the technology and economics work out.<\/p>\n
Which is good enough reason to keep an eye on those C5s \u2014 not only as \u201cme-too\u201d fermentable sugar for ethanol and fuels, but as a platform for all kinds of interesting chemistry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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