Evolva Acquires Allylix in $59M All-Share Transaction: What’s the Impact for Industrial Biotech?

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... But in the meantime, it appears to be an open-and-shut case that “new sugars” are the new sugar — and specifically that stevia might be the new sugar. Supporters of the idea that synthetic stevia might be the big winner in the multi-billion sweetener market got a big boost this past week when Evolva acquired Allylix, one of the most interesting companies in all of industrial biotechnology and #10 on this year’s 40 Hottest Small Companies in the Advanced Bioeconomy.
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For some time, we have been following with great interest the application of the terpenes that Allylix has been exploring to high-end “superfuels”.
In August we observed:
Much has been written about terpenes in the area of flavors and fragrances. But they have astonishing properties for super high-density jet fuels in the 130,000-140,000 BTU range.
Valencene, premnaspirodiene, and b-caryophyllene. Now, we get into an interesting range of molecules. Think, for example, valencene, premnaspirodiene, and b-caryophyllene, which Allylix and the Naval Air Warfare Center have been working on.
Neoclavane. One candidate molecule is neoclovane. Harvey and colleagues noted “a fuel composed of only neoclovane would be expected to have a density of B0.92 g mL1, with a calculated volumetric NHOC of nearly 141 000 Btu gal.” That’s definitely in the JP-10 range, and this research is based on the afore-mentioned real-world fuels development at Allylix.
Why interesting? These are generally in the range of the fuel spec known as JP-10. It’s also known as rocket fuel, used in very small quantities because, made from petroleum it costs $25 per gallon.
We wrote in June: “Imagine, for example, taking a Boeing 777 and extending its (full passenger and cargo load) range from 9,000 to 11,500 miles — and being able to fly non-stop between any two cities in the world. Or F-18A/F Superhornets being able to add significant weapon loads, or fly faster , or add up to 30% to flight range. It’s like getting a new generation of aircraft without the multi-billion price tag.
As a team of researchers from the Naval Air Warfare Center at China Lake and NIST, headed by Dr. Ben Harvey, observed a few months back in a journal article we summarized here:
“Renewable fuels with densities that exceed those of conventional jet fuels by up to 13% can be generated from multicyclic sesquiterpenes. This advance has the potential to improve the range of aircraft, ships, and ground vehicles without altering engine configurations. In addition, as strategies to efficiently convert lignocellulosic biomass into sugars improve and organisms are developed that can utilize these sugar mixtures and convert them to sesquiterpenes, these fuels can be produced on a scale that would help supplant significant quantities of petroleum.” READ MORE / MORE

Excerpt from 4/6/16 Biofuels Digest: Evolva announced just recently that it is expanding its nootkatone research focus to include the mosquitoes that transmit Zika and other viruses. This expanded focus is included in the comprehensive Cooperative Research and Development Agreement now in place between Evolva and the CDC. The World Health Organization recently declared Zika virus a global public health emergency. Nootkatone could play an important role in the global response to the spread of Zika.
Evolva’s big development agreement
And, Evolva has just signed a license agreement with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that grants the exclusive worldwide patent rights to develop and commercialize nootkatone for the control of ticks, mosquitoes, fleas, flies, lice, bed bugs, and other biting insects.
“We now have the tools in place to accelerate the research and commercial development of nootkatone as a next-generation pest control compound against a broad range of biting insects, including the mosquitoes that transmit Zika, chikungunya, dengue, and West Nile viruses,” said Evolva CEO Neil Goldsmith. READ MORE