Microvi Wins Grant for New Cost-Effective Butanol Production Technology
June 28, 2017 – Microvi has been awarded a USDA grant for a project that will showcase a new, low-cost technology for the production of butanol, the company announced today.
Microvi’s new butanol technology features an intensified process that offers significant cost reductions compared with conventional technologies by nearly eliminating the need for costly distillation processes.
The demonstration project, which will convert ligonocellulosic materials into n-butanol, will be conducted in partnership with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit (ABPDU).
“Despite decades of work by researchers around the world in improving n-butanol production, a breakthrough has proven elusive,” said Microvi CEO Dr. Fatemeh Shirazi. “With this project, we are excited to announce a breakthrough that will transform the economics of n-butanol production.”
The new technology is built on Microvi’s MicroNiche Engineering™ platform, and enables titers and productivity rates that are more than 10 times higher than conventional methods while significantly reducing costs, water use and energy use. The technology can be applied as bolt-on processe for ethanol production plants, as well as integrated within novel biorefinery concepts in wastewater treatment plants.
This new project comes after Microvi, working with the ABPDU, demonstrated breakthrough improvements to biological ethanol production last year.
About Microvi
Microvi is an applied biotechnology company based in the San Francisco Bay Area that develops and commercializes next-generation biosolutions to address critical challenges in climate change, water, energy, waste, health, and environmental sustainability. Powered by its proprietary MicroNiche Engineering™ (MNE) platform, Microvi delivers proven, high-performance biosolutions worldwide – reducing greenhouse gas emissions and waste while increasing productivity and cost-efficiency for its customers. Microvi’s scaleable biosolutions are deployed globally across diverse sectors, providing disruptive economic value for industry partners and ultimately contributing to a cleaner environment and healthier communities. Learn more at Microvi Biotech.
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