The Brew Barons: Masters of Advanced Fermentation, Driving the Redefinition of Biofuels: Pt 1

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March 1, 2011

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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …Is there enough energy, food, fiber and feed for all? Advances in industrial fermentation – a/k/a an incredulous “you’re making what? from what? using what? – will be the key to answering that question.
The stars of this drama are using everything from sorbitol to steel waste gases, grass clippings, pulp mill black liquor, sludge, cane trash, vinasse, leftover chili, and potato peels that never found a home.
They are using two basic strategies – fermenting liquids and, more unusually, fermenting gases too. Most are fermenting liquids; companies utilizing gas-phase fermentation, like Coskata, LanzaTech and IneosBio, are just now proceeding towards demonstration at scale.
Their microorganisms have become so focused and well trained that they are creating phosphate-free detergents, ethanol, organic acids, diesels, gasoline, base and novel chemicals, even synthetic anti-malarials. Just today, Codexis announced that it has developed a process to capture CO2 from coal-fired power flue stacks by fermenting the waste gases.
…They are the new Brew Barons. In an earlier age, they might have been content to make White Lightning, or craft brews. Today their targets are jet fuel, renewable gasoline, renewable diesel, ethanol, a boatload of renewable chemicals, plus feed grains, food oils, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and more.
Algenol
Amyris
Bluefire Renewables
Cobalt Technologies
Codexis
Coskata
Genencor
Genomatica
Gevo
INEOS Bio
Lanza Tech
LS9
Mascoma
Novozymes
OPX Biotechnologies
POET
Qteros
Solazyme
Terrabon
Verdezyne
ZeaChem
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