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DTI boost for next-generation biofuels

22nd January 2007 (Source: Department of Trade and Industry )

An Oxfordshire biotechnology company is set to develop a new low-cost 'next generation' biofuel, with £250,000 funding from the Department of Trade and Industry-led Technology Programme and £310,000 from shareholder investors and business angels.

Green Biologics Ltd plans to develop a way of manufacturing biobutanol, identified as a superior 'next generation' biofuel for transport, which will slash the cost of production by up to a third. Biobutanol is currently used as a chemical feed for stock but high production costs have prevented it being widely used as a fuel.

Minister for Science and Innovation, Malcolm Wicks, said: "The development of biofuels is expected to play a major part in reducing transport emissions post 2020. We need companies like Green Biologics to work on developing the technology now needed to make new types of biofuel to help meet our future goals.

"Tackling climate change is a huge global challenge. We believe the UK must put its best efforts towards developing the new technologies we need to help cut carbon emissions. There's also a great economic opportunity for UK businesses in investing in this area."

Green Biologics Founder & CEO, Dr Edward Green, said: "Biofuels, such as biobutanol, are sustainable and environmentally friendly 'next generation' fuels that will extend, and ultimately replace, fossil fuels such as petrol and diesel. Although butanol is not currently used as a biofuel, it has a number of properties that make it extremely attractive. It is a renewable liquid fuel, produced from the fermentation of sugars, which can easily be integrated into the existing fuel infrastructure by blending with petrol. Unlike bioethanol, it offers similar energy per litre to petrol, has low vapour pressure and is easy to store, handle and transport via pipelines."

Biobutanol is produced by the clostridial fermentation of starch and sugars, a process first commercialised in 1916 to produce acetone for munitions for the war effort but which was displaced in the 1950s by a cheaper petrochemical method.

BP has recently announced a collaboration with Dupont and British Sugar to manufacture biobutanol using conventional technology in the UK. BP provides a route for butanol into the transport fuel market and aims to blend butanol with petrol at its 1200 filling stations. In addition, in an attempt to curb C02 emissions, the EU has suggested that biofuels should account for 5.75% of total fuel sales by 2010. More recently the Commission has proposed that biofuels should make up 10% of total fuel sales by 2020 which represents a huge increase in the market for biofuels.

Within the UK, the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation will, from April 2008, require fuel suppliers to ensure that an increasing percentage of their total fuel sales are made up of biofuels by 2020. The Government intends that biobutanol should count as a renewable transport fuel under the RTFO. The Government is due to consult on the details of the RTFO very shortly.

Green Biologics is partnering with EKB Technology, a specialist in innovative process technology, to develop an advanced fermentation process for butanol with improved yields and productivity and to demonstrate lower production costs for its Butafuel(tm) product.

Dr Green explained: "The major barrier to butanol production has been the high cost of the conventional starch fermentation process. Our expertise in microbial strain development, together with EKB's innovative process technology and the use of non-edible food stocks, should lead to a step change in the economic viability of the manufacturing process - we are aiming for a two to three fold reduction in cost. We are effectively using our knowledge of enzymology, microbial physiology and fermentation to optimise and 're-commercialise' the butanol fermentation process."

New investment, together with significant grant funding, our collaboration with EKB Technologies, and the strengthening of our board with the appointment of Andrew Rickman OBE as Chairman are exciting developments. Dr Rickman founded Bookham Technology Inc, the world's second largest fibre optics telecom component producer and brings substantial management expertise and a hands-on approach that will be particularly valuable as we move to the next stage of demonstrating that we can produce our own Butafuel(tm) product."

Press contacts

DTI: Alexandra Thompson, Press Officer. Tel: (0)
Email:

Green Biologics: Margaret Henry, PR Consultant. Tel: +44 (0) 1865 811199
Email:

* Photographs available on request

About Green Biologics

Green Biologics Ltd was founded in 2003 by Dr Edward Green, Chief Executive Officer, and is located at Milton Park, Oxfordshire. Green Biologics is an industrial biotechnology company aiming to become the world's leading supplier of advanced fermentation techniques for conversion of lignocellulosic plant material to renewable biofuels and chemicals.

Technical development is supported by a microbial platform technology based on a unique and proprietary collection of heat loving micro-organisms (thermophiles) and thermostable enzymes that operate at higher temperatures than other industrial micro-organisms and which can deliver fast and highly-productive processes. The Company's platform technology has been specifically developed to address a range of environmental, industrial and pharmaceutical applications.

Green Biologics is developing a pipeline of near and longer term opportunities. First to market will be an advanced compost accelerant product, to be followed by Butafuel(tm), an advanced liquid biofuel for transportation. Patent applications have been submitted to cover the Butafuel(tm) technology. A longer term opportunity lies in the development of a biocatalytic process for fine chemical drug intermediates.

For further information: http://www.greenbiologics.com

About Biofuels

Biofuels for transportation are attractive replacements for gasoline and are rapidly penetrating fuel markets as low concentration blends. Biofuels, derived from natural plant sources, are completely renewable. In addition, they are environmentally friendly (reduced CO2 emissions), reduce our dependence on finite fossil fuels and help revitalise rural economies.

Green Biologics is committed to driving down the cost of biofuels by implementing advanced proprietary fermentation technologies that reduce processing costs through increased productivity, and also reduce feedstock costs through the implementation of agricultural waste and dedicated energy crops.

About the Technology Programme

The Technology Programme provides funding using two of the DTI's business support products: Collaborative Research & Development and Knowledge Transfer Networks.

Over the period 2005-2008, £370 million in grants is available to businesses to support research and development in technology areas identified by the Technology Strategy Board.

The programme is investing directly in new and emerging technologies and has been designed to help businesses work collaboratively with each other or with academic partners to develop technologies that will underpin products and services of the future.

The Technology Programme has allocated over £430m to Collaborative R&D competitions, awarding grants ranging from £30,000 to £11 million. Around 600 projects have been funded across 40 technology areas worth about £900m. 22 Knowledge Transfer Networks have also been established with funding of around £40m over 3 years.

Further information can be found at: http://www.dti.gov.uk/innovation/technologystrategy.

Department of Trade and Industry

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