The Digest’s 2024 Multi-Slide Guide to Cemvita

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) We’ve engineered microbes that turn the waste such as CO2 into helpful compounds, therefore closing the carbon/waste loop and address those recovery and production processes that, in current heavy industry, creates waste and emission outputs. Cemvita’s Pedro Barcia presented these slides on the company’s production of SAF feedstocks at ABLC 2024. READ MORE

Excerpt from Cemvita/Business Wire: Cemvita, a biosolutions leader for the energy industry, announces a significant breakthrough enabling the company to produce substantial quantities of its Sustainable Oil from waste carbon sources. This landmark achievement marks a pivotal step forward in the production of low-carbon intensity feedstocks for HEFA sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), representing a significant opportunity to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change.

“We simply do not have enough low-carbon intensity feedstock locally in the U.S. We import about five billion pounds a year from places as far away as Australia and China to meet demand,” said Moji Karimi, CEO of Cemvita. “Our biotechnology is delivering on its promise of a sustainable future. The benefits and applications are limitless, from avoiding the environmental impact of deforestation and providing sustainable fuels to food and cosmetic applications. We’ve turned waste into a viable alternative to traditional fossil fuels.”

Cemvita's optimized microorganisms are rich in oil and undergo a series of processing steps to extract it. Through applied research and innovation in bioprocess technology, this developed process has produced high-yield extraction of the oil from the 4,000-liter bioreactor the company operates in Houston. Early tests confirm that Cemvita’s Sustainable Oil is a drop-in replacement for palm oil in all its use cases.

The next step for Sustainable Oil will be the conversion into sustainable aviation fuel by partners in refining. The use of sustainable oil in SAF production targets a reduction of emissions of up to 80% over common jet fuel, with further applications in food, cosmetics, and specialty chemicals. Such an achievement opens up new avenues for sustainable fuel feedstock production. To ensure reliability, Cemvita will continue the process with the produced Sustainable Oil undergoing extensive characterization and product testing to ensure its performance and compatibility with existing aviation infrastructure.

Founded in 2017, Cemvita has partnered with global corporations with a joint mission to unlock an entirely new industrial category of biorenewable natural resources. With its recent breakthrough, Cemvita solidifies its role at the forefront of commercializing biosolutions that enable an accelerated energy transition.

Cemvita is on a mission to create the natural resource industry of the future. This vision is realized by carbon utilization for the biomanufacturing of sustainable oil for the production of SAF. Cemvita works with global corporations to accelerate the energy transition and deliver industrial biotech that will impact climate goals in a real way. The company was founded in 2017 and is proudly based in Houston, Texas, the energy capital of the world. For more information, please visit www.cemvita.com. READ MORE

Excerpt from Cemvita: Cemvita, a climate tech company producing sustainable oil from waste, is announcing a major milestone in its production capabilities. Showcasing the groundbreaking science behind its microbial waste-to-oil process, Cemvita has unlocked new efficient technologies that allow for the production of up to 500 barrels per day of sustainable oil from its first commercial plant—a goal originally projected for 2029.

In an industry where reaching scale is known to be limited and expensive, Cemvita's technological advances in lipid productivity have enabled the company to quadruple its planned output. This achievement is due in part to adaptive evolutionary enhancements in its leading-edge microbes. Additionally, reactor optimization has significantly increased oil extraction efficiency by at least 330%.

“What's so amazing about synthetic biology is that humans are just scratching the surface of what's possible,” said Moji Karimi, CEO of Cemvita. “Our focus on the first principles has allowed us to design and create new biotech more cheaply and faster than ever before. Our combination of low-CAPEX design, innovations in bioprocess engineering, and increased productivity, enabled by synthetic biology, sets us apart. Today’s threefold achievement in efficiently producing sustainable oil from crude glycerin comes just two months after our breakthrough in developing a solvent-free extraction bioprocess. All this work has taken place in our Houston pilot plant.”

Today’s announcement is expected to have significant positive implications for the business, including increased production capacity, improved operational efficiency, and a strengthened competitive position in the sustainable oil market. Cemvita leads the biotechnology industry by leveraging the power of nature in combination with synthetic biology to decarbonize heavy industries and deliver cleaner products without negative impact and without sacrificing the benefits already in place from our current carbon-based manufacturing economy.

Cemvita is continuing to gain momentum through its partnerships and world-class talent acquisition. In collaboration with Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, Cemvita is working to efficiently produce sustainable fats, chemicals, and fuel feedstocks using its cutting-edge microbial suite and bioprocess design. This process decreases oil production costs and broadens the company's market portfolio by investigating the presence of high-value compounds within bioprocesses.

Recent hire Nadia Skorupa Parachin, Vice President of Industrial Biotechnology, joined Cemvita in July to accelerate the company’s synthetic biology advancements, driving even greater efficiency. Phil Garcia, recently promoted to Vice President of Commercialization, joined Cemvita last year, leading the company’s commercialization efforts. Cemvita anticipates the announcement of further technological and production advancements in the coming months, promising a future of enhanced productivity and sustainability. READ MORE