Example Biofuels
With increasing emphasis on the need for renewable resources and environmentally-friendly processes, Biofuels have gained considerable importance.
Traditionally, biofuels have been dominated by the fermentation of plant polysaccharides to ethanol by yeast strains, with the use of corn, sugar cane and sugar beet. These traditional processes have major drawbacks; the yeast strains cannot utilize C5 sugars for ethanol production and are therefore unable to efficiently utilize other sources of plant material which contain high levels of cellulose, such as agricultural wastes.
Novacta scientists, working with a major biofuels company, have employed their expertise in the genetic manipulation of unusual microorganisms to generate a thermophilic bacterial strain which can very efficiently convert cellulosic plant materials containing C5 & C6 sugars, including waste products, to ethanol by fermentation. The resulting strain carries multiple genetic modifications, including knock-outs of competing pathways and up-regulation of key metabolic pathways, but is still a non-GMO.
This strain is being used in the first large-scale cellulosic ethanol pilot plant established in the UK.