Notes from:
The Advanced Biofuels Summit, April 21, 2009
William Frey, CEO Qteros (formerly SunEthanol)
We are figuring out how to optimize the Q microbe to make prodigious amounts of ethanol. As soon as we introduce the Q microbe to corn stover or any kind of biomass, it starts to rapidly hydrolize the biomass into a solution that contains some concentration of ethanol for distillation.
Qteros is a cellulose to ethanol production company.
Investors include Battery Ventures and BP. The oil companies are becoming increasing involved.
Q Microbe:
• Combines biomass breakdown and fermentation capabilities.
• Ferments both C5 and C6 sugars
• Adjusts to whatever biomass is introduced.
The barrier to cellulosic ethanol is cost. Qteros and other companies are working to break the cost barriers. William is confident Qteros will get there in 2009.
Microbes currently produce products like beer and wine, dairy, pharmaceuticals and sewage. All of the microbes can scale. Microbial bioprocessing for fuels is the latest addition. If you can do it in the lab, engineers can figure out how to scale it up.
They have been working with the DOE on mapping the Q microbe genome. It is clear that it has the enzymatic pathways to create ethanol. Ethanol is the primary product. The technology is licensed from U Mass.
Of the 4,000 genes, the microbe presents different enzymes depending on what feedstock is presented. E.g. when its Xylan, Xylase is high, went its Cellulose, Cellulase is high.
Accordintg to National Renewable Energy Lab Tech Report, 2005 (DOE) there’s 420 million tons of biomass available in the U.S.
This constitutes a 45 billion gallon opportunity. It would take a lot of biorefineries around the country. We could produce half of the fuel needed to replace oil imports. We can grow beyond the 16 billion gallons of fuel targeted by 2022.
The Q microbe does not need a secondary step of enzymes, so this reduces the steps from four to three and reduces cap ex requirements for plants.
Lower process costs, multiple feedstocks – that’s our message.
Working with DOE and USDA to accelerate the technology into market.
We expect to have our pilot plant (internal) in ‘09, external pilot plan in ‘10 and demonstration plan in ‘11.
Confident that by working with partners, DOE, investors and partners, can hit these aggressive targets.
Questions and Answers
What about butanol, can you make that?
Not today. There may be other products we can make. But we are focused on ethanol.
What’s your conversion efficiency?
Very near theoretical maximum, north of 80% depending on feedstock.
Is heat added?
It will require some pre-treatment, including conditions and mechanical pre-treatment. We believe we have pre-treatment advantages.
Do you have funding for demo plants?
We don’t have funding for that in-line. We have some great partners that would benefit by demonstrating at scale, but they are looking for support. he next plant will process 1-2 tons per day, this will cost 25-30 million dollars.
What’s the goal in terms of the target plant?
Depends, we could have a bolt-on to a corn ethanol plant. There are already 150 corn ethanol plants that could increase yield by processing corn stover.
Do you need to worry about contamination in your plants?
The microbe is very robust and seems to be stable in the lab.
What security are you using?
You are assuming we are using a GMO organism, but this is not the case. We are using a natural organism with natural evolution. We are hoping to have an organism that is not genetically modified. It’s an anaerobe, it’s safe and can’t evolve in the atmosphere, it was found in the soil, it won’t be fed to animals, it will be burnt to produce heat and fire.
We have many lawyers putting together an intellectual property portfolio that is solid. Many patents are underway, including process patents for ethanol.
Is there a way to capture the hydrogen that it produces?
Yes, we are working on ways to capture various by-products.
What about CO2 production from the ethanol process for the Q microbe?
The lignin is 1/3 of the plant. Even if you burn the entire plant, it is CO2 neutral. There may be other products than can be produced with the waste products of the process.
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