C5 Is the New C6
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Goodbye glucose, hello xylose. The X-Factor in the advanced bioeconomy might just be a sugar that starts with an X. … When we think about C5s — that are liberated by new technologies from the cellulosic material they reside in, such as woods or plants — we generally think about them as a sort of “me-too” 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.
But Digesterati such as David Dodds (of Dodds & Associates) and Ron Cascone (of Nexant), also seen frequently on the ABLC stage and on BioChannel.TV) suggest that we are overlooking the usefulness of C5s.
“As the biorefinery concept becomes real,” says Dodds, “the stream of 5-carbon sugars (from hemi-cellulose) is going to be a new 5-carbon chemical feedstock. It has a greater advantage when seen in this perspective than as “fermentable sugar”. … ”
Cascone agrees. “C5 sugar (grey) is the new C6 sugar (black). Amyris is the 5-carbon poster child – farnasene /farnasane /squalene, etc. (5×3), d-limonene (5×2), 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 (C15H22O5). It’s 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.”
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One of the most amazing corporate journeys we’ve seen in recent tyears parallels this discussion — that’s 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’s formation came a string of MOUs with prominent firms that were developing along those lines.
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Sweetwater, no surprise, has repositioned — and what we except to see is that the company will be producing some product on its own at its first commercial biorefinery — and that primarily means higher-value chemicals made from sugars, and naturally that brings us to C5s.
The Sweetwater,Taurus and Lallemand hook-up
Though offical word from Sweetwater is not yet forthcoming — they’ve grown shy of “getting ahead of the story” since the death of all those MOUs — 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.
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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.
As Liquid Light makes clear, current Bio-PET is expensive and it’s a multi-step procedure. So, there’s reason to focus on Liquid Light’s process, which makes MEG from oxalic acid, in turn made from CO2.
But there’s a C5 pathway as well. And with a $27B market to chase, there’s going to be more than one happy landing if the technology and economics work out. READ MORE
