In May of 2012, Gevo, Inc. announced the start-up of its bio-isobutanol plant in Luverne, Minnesota. Since then, the company says it has both produced and shipped commercial quality product in railcars for customers. One thing the company has learned is what works well and what needs to be tweaked. So the company has switched the plant to ethanol production …
Butamax Patent Portfolio Expands
Butamax Advanced Biofuels has been granted another patent 8,273,558 (‘558 patent). The company is focused on developing commercial technology for the production of biobutanol, with a focus on the fuel market. One aspect the company has been working on is capitalizing on sugar conversion via the enzymes paired with yeast. Yeast only expresses certain enzymes in small compartments of a cell …
Ethanol Biorefining Innovations
There are many biorefining innovations taking place in the ethanol industry. During the 25th Annual Ethanol Conference, three company representatives discussed the research and technologies they were implementing or studying to increase the value of the ethanol production process. Steve McNinch with Western Plains Energy said his company is looking at how to move into the advanced biofuels category of …
Gevo Ships First Biobased Isobutanol from Minn. Plant
Next-generation biofuels and renewable chemicals producer Gevo, Inc. has shipped its first batch of biobased isobutanol from its production facility in Luverne, Minnesota. “We are laser-focused on our startup at Luverne,” said Patrick Gruber Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Gevo. “With the completion of our offerings last month, we have the funding in hand to complete the next phase of …
Cobalt & Rhodia to Build Biobutanol Plant
Cobalt Technologies and Rhodia, a member of the Solvay Group, is partnering to develop and operate a biobutanol demonstration facility in Brazil. The plant will use Cobalt’s technology to convert bagasse (sugarcane by-product) and other local feedstock into bio n-butanol, which can be used as both a transportation fuel or industrial chemical. “This agreement puts us on a clear path towards commercialization, …
Butamax expands Biobutanol Early Adopters Group
Four additional plants have joined the Butamax™ Advanced Biofuels Early Adopters Group (EAG), indicating their interest in biobutanol production. According to the company, Platinum Ethanol LLC of Arthur, Iowa; Little Sioux Corn Processors of Marcus, Iowa; Granite Falls Energy LLC of Granite Falls, Minnesota; and Siouxland Ethanol of Jackson, Nebraska have joined the EAG, which was launched in December 2011, …
Butamax & Fagen Cement Colloboration
Butamax has entered into a partnership with Fagen Inc. The pair will work together to introduce commercial scale biobutanol using Butamax technology. Fagen, an engineering company, has designed and or built more than 85 ethanol plants totaling nearly 6 billion gallons of ethanol production per year. The goal of the two companies is to ramp up production of biobutanol. “We …
Cobalt Forms New Bio n-Butanol Partnership
The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) is in the final stage of a biojet fuel project using bio n-butanol produced by Cobalt Technologies. Albemarle Corporation, a chemical company, will use NAWCWD technologies to process Cobalt’s fuel into renewable jet fuel. The project is underway in Albemarle’s Baton Rouge, Louisiana processing facility. Dr. Michael D. Seltzer, head of NAWCWD’s …
Butamax Granted Patent for Iso-Butanol
Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC, has been granted patent number 8,129,162 for production of iso-butanol from biological resources. This latest patent was issued from a series of applications covering modified KARI enzymes that optimize production of biobutanol by Butamax’s proprietary microorganisms. These microorganisms are engineered with the isobutanol biosynthetic pathway invented by Butamax that includes five enzymatic steps that convert sugar …
Cobalt Demonstrates Biomass Treatment Process
Cobalt Technologies has announced a milestone in the commercial conversion of biomass to sugars with the successful demonstration of its biomass pretreatment process. The company, which is developing next generation n-butanol, made the achievement in cooperation with ANDRITZ, a globally leading supplier of technologies, equipment and plants for the pulp and paper industry. Cobalt conducted the testing in the ANDRITZ …