Company Name
Green Biologics

Company Web Site
http://www.greenbiologics.com/

Headquarters
Oxfordshire, UK

Latest News
Butafuel(TM), their patented biobutanol, is an advanced transportation biofuel based on butanol. Butanol is derived from waste plant material (cellulosic biomass) offering a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future.

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.

GBL plans to develop a way of manufacturing biobutanol 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. Butanol is a liquid fuel that can be readily integrated into the existing fuel infrastructure, it has a high energy yield, similar to gasoline; low vapor pressure and can easily be stored, handled and transported via pipelines.

Technical development is supported by a microbial platform technology based on a unique and proprietary collection of heat loving micro-organisms and thermostable enzymes that operate at higher temperatures than other industrial micro-organisms.

Funding
January 2007 -Green Biologics was awarded $1.1 million to boost 'green' fuel development, specifically biobutanol, with $500,000 funding from the Department of Trade and Industry-led Technology Program and $610,000 from shareholder investors and business angels.

Technology
Biomass Hydrolysis
GBL has isolated a cocktail of thermophiles for rapid enzymatic hydrolysis and release of fermentable sugars from biomass. Thermostable enzymes offer a faster, cleaner and more efficient process for biomass hydrolysis resulting in cost savings. GBL plans to integrate its patented hydrolysis technology with its prorietary biofuel fermentation process offering a reduction in both feedstock and manufacturing costs.

Biofuel Production
Butanol is produced by microbial fermentation of sugars derived from biomass and GBL has identified butanol as a superior "next generation" biofuel for transportation. Butanol is a liquid fuel that can be readily integrated into the existing fuel infrastructure, it has a high energy yield, low vapour pressure and can easily be stored, handled and transported via pipelines.

GBL has developed superior butanol producing microbial strains using genetic engineering and will integrate these strains into a novel fermentation process. This technology advance should result in a step change in the economic viability of the fermentation.