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Archives :: Chementator :: Bioprocessing

Displaying 1 - 20 of 24 stories.
May 1, 2013
Bioengineers make an ‘ideal’ hydrogel for antimicrobial applications
Although several antimicrobial hydrogels have been developed in recent years, they all have one or more drawbacks, such as possible toxicity, insufficient stability and biodegradability, and high costs. These and other drawbacks have been overcome with a synthetic hydrogel being developed by researchers from the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (Singapore; www.ibn.a-star.edu.sg) and IBM...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/Bioengineers-make-an-ideal-hydrogel-for-antimicrobial-applications_10450.html
December 1, 2012
A boost for bio-butanol production
Lately there has been much renewed interest in fermentative production of n-butanol from renewable biomass as an industrial solvent and liquid fuel superior to ethanol that could be used as a substitute for gasoline. An improved butanol production through the reinforcement of the direct butanol-forming route in Clostridium acetobutylicum has been reported by a Korean team, which includes scientists from...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/A-boost-for-bio-butanol-production_9971.html
December 1, 2012
Scaleup for a microbial process that produces acetic acid from offgases
A demonstration plant for the production of acetic acid from the carbon dioxide in industrial offgases will be built at an operating plant of Petronas (Kuala Lumpur; www.petronas.com.my), Malaysia’s national oil company, under an agreement with LanzaTech (Roselle, Ill.; www.lanzatech.com), developer of the process. Scheduled for startup in late 2013, the plant will be similar in size to a...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/Scaleup-for-a-microbial-process-that-produces-acetic-acid-from-offgases_9973.html
December 1, 2012
Low-cost production of PHA from air and greenhouse gases
Newlight Technologies (Irvine, Calif.; www.newlight.com) has launched commercial production of a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) thermoplastic made from air and greenhouse gases, such as methane, that can be manufactured less expensively than conventional petroleum-derived alternatives, using a novel high-efficiency biocatalyst and bioreactor system. While considerable effort has previously been directed toward...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/Low-cost-production-of-PHA-from-air-and-greenhouse-gases_9975.html
September 1, 2012
Sterile ice fog improves control of freeze-drying
Linde Gases (Murray Hill, N.J.; www.linde-gases.com) has developed a novel cryogenic technology that promotes uniformity in the formation of ice crystals during freeze-drying (lyophilization) processes for proteins, vaccines and other injectable pharmaceutical products. Lyophilization involves freezing a solution of the product, then reducing the surrounding pressure to allow the water to sublimate...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/Sterile-ice-fog-improves-control-of-freeze-drying_9629.html
September 1, 2012
A move toward bio-based malic acid, acrylic acid and butadiene
A move toward bio-based malic acid... Novozymes A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark; www.novozymes.com) has developed a strain of metabolically engineered Aspergillus oryzae fungus that is capable of producing the four-carbon, dicarboxylic acid compound malic acid. The chemical building block malic acid is used as a flavor enhancer in the food industry, and can be converted into 1,4-butanediol (BDO), which serves as...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/A-move-toward-bio-based-malic-acid-acrylic-acid-and-butadiene_9637.html
June 1, 2012
A non-crop-based sugar feedstock for bio-based chemicals and biofuels
Proterro Inc. (Princeton, N.J.; www. proterro.com) has demonstrated technology for directly producing sucrose as a feedstock for bio-based chemicals and biofuels that avoids the need for cellulosic biomass and energy crops. Using a genetically engineered strain of photosynthetic cyanobacteria and a unique photobioreactor system, Proterro is able to generate a clean...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/A-non-crop-based-sugar-feedstock-for-bio-based-chemicals-and-biofuels_9369.html
May 1, 2012
Scaleup for a new delignification process
This month, Borregaard Industries Ltd. (Sarpsborg, Norway; www.borregaard.com) will start up an integrated, pilot-demonstration plant to further develop a new pretreatment process for converting biomass into lignin and fermentable sugars. Located at the company’s R&D Center in Sarpsborg, the pilot plant will convert up to two metric tons (m.t.) of feedstock per day. The fully integrated facility...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/Scaleup-for-a-new-delignification-process_9252.html
May 1, 2012
Municipal solid waste is one feedstock for this bioethanol process
The technology surrounding a hydrolysis- and fermentation-based process that is capable of utilizing municipal solid waste (MSW) and biomass waste to produce cellulosic bioethanol at low cost is now available for licensing from its developer, TMO Renewables Ltd. (Guildford, U.K.; www.tmo-group.com). Several of the cost-saving measures depend on the capabilities of a heat-loving bacterium that has been...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/Municipal-solid-waste-is-one-feedstock-for-this-bioethanol-process_9294.html
March 1, 2012
Biobutanol to be produced at retrofitted ethanol plant
The first commercial-scale biobutanol plant using the Gevo Integrated Fermentation Technology (GIFT) process is set to come online in mid-2012 at the former site of an ethanol facility in Minnesota. In late January, Gevo (Englewood, Colo.; www.gevo.com) was awarded a U.S. patent for the GIFT separation technology, a key component of the process that allows the separation of C3–C6 alcohols from the...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/Biobutanol-to-be-produced-at-retrofitted-ethanol-plant_9037.html
February 1, 2012
Demonstration for integrated production of bioethanol
Oji Paper Co. (OJI; www.ojipaper.co.jp), in collaboration with Nippon Steel Engineering Co. (www.nsc-eng.co.jp) and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST; all Tokyo, Japan; www.aist.go.jp), has started pilot testing of a new, integrated process for making cellulose-based ethanol from fast-growing trees, such as eucalyptus. The pilot facility, located at OJI’s Kure...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/Demonstration-for-integrated-production-of-bioethanol_8942.html
November 1, 2011
Supercritical water process converts biomass to sugars
Sugar is a critical feedstock for many emerging bio-based-chemical and biofuel processes, but harvesting sugar from low-value, nonfood biomass cost-effectively and at large scale remains a challenge. Renmatix Inc. (King of Prussia, Pa.; www.renmatix.com) has developed a process that uses water above its critical temperature and pressure to hydrolyze a range of biomass materials to make C5 and C6 sugars...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/Supercritical-water-process-converts-biomass-to-sugars_8609.html
October 1, 2011
Dewatering enzymes boost ethanol production efficiency
A technique that improves the efficiency of ethanol plants by lowering the cost of dewatering the byproduct stillage (a slurry of corn solids and water) from the fermentation process has been developed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Eastern Regional Research Center (Wyndmoor, Pa.; www.ars.usda.gov). The process has been demonstrated at full scale in a commercial plant...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/Dewatering-enzymes-boost-ethanol-production-efficiency_8514.html
September 1, 2011
Microbe-based process for GBL nears commercialization
Metabolix Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.; www.metabolix.com) has successfully demonstrated and completed research and development for scaleup on a fermentation process that produces gamma -butyrolactone (GBL) from genetically engineered bacteria. The process is built upon the company’s technology for engineering metabolic pathways into microbes that produce specific biopolymers. “We’ve been able...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/Microbe-based-process-for-GBL-nears-commercialization_8406.html
September 1, 2011
‘Green’ surfactants from yeast
A new yeast strain that could one day substitute for petroleum as a source of surfactants for detergents, soaps and cosmetics has been identified by researchers at the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (Peoria, Ill.; ars.usda.gov). The yeast, not yet named, is a member of the Candida genus of yeasts and produces sophorolipids (a sugar-based...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/Green-surfactants-from-yeast_8414.html
September 1, 2011
Monomers from glucose
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (MCC; Tokyo, www.m-kagaku.co.jp, MCC) is developing bio-based technology for producing propylene, butadiene, 1,4-butanediol (BDO), terephthalic...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/Monomers-from-glucose_8415.html
August 1, 2011
Green honors
In June, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA; Washington, D.C.; www.epa.gov) announced the winners of the 2011 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. Winners of the Challenge, which promotes R&D of less hazardous alternatives to existing technologies that reduce or eliminate waste in industrial production, are selected by an independent panel convened by the Americal Chemical Soc...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/Green-honors_8278.html
August 1, 2011
August Chementator Briefs
  Graphene from dry ice Researchers at Northern Illinois University (NIU; DeKalb, Ill.; www.niu.edu) discovered a new method for producing graphene that involves burning pure magnesium metal in dry ice. The method, which is capable of producing large quantities of graphene in sheets less than ten atoms thick, is simpler than conventional methods for generating graphene, and avoids hazardous chemicals...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/August-Chementator-Briefs_8289.html
July 1, 2011
This one-step route to cellulosic ethanol features a multitasking yeast
The research group of professor Akihiko Kondo at Kobe University (Kobe City, www2.kobe-u.ac.jp/~akondo/index_English.htm) has developed a one-step, pretreatment process for making bioethanol from cellulose and lignocellulose. The process uses an ionic liquid — which converts cellulose into a gel — and a genetically engineered yeast (arming yeast) that...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/This-one-step-route-to-cellulosic-ethanol-features-a-multitasking-yeast_8177.html
July 1, 2011
Process for renewably sourced polyols licensed
A process for making polyols from soybean oil and glycerin has been licensed by its developer, Battelle (Columbus, Ohio; www.battelle.org), to Emery Oleochemicals Americas (Cincinnati, Ohio; www.emeryoleo.com), who intends to produce the renewably sourced polyols at prices similar to those of petroleum-based polyols. As multifunctional alcohols, polyols are widely used in industry, especially for making...
http://www.che.com/chementator/bioprocessing/Process-for-renewably-sourced-polyols-licensed_8180.html
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