Responding to the demand in the market for cellulosic biofuels, SunEthanol is collaborating with MBI International to scale-up a fermentation method for producing ethanol from non-food agricultural feedstocks.
This fermentation method utilizes SunEthanol's unique Q-Microbe, which effectively digests and ferments cellulosic feedstocks to ethanol in a single-step process.
"There are several reasons we chose to partner with MBI," states Dr. Sarad Parekh, VP of Research and Development at SunEthanol. "We were impressed by their multidisciplinary expertise, rigorous and disciplined scale-up approach, and specialized on-site pilot-plant facilities."
MBI is a Lansing, Michigan biotechnology firm specializing in fermentation process development and scale-up. MBI also develops biomass processing technologies. Currently, MBI is actively scaling-up AFEX (ammonia fiber expansion), a promising biomass pretreaent technology developed at Michigan State University.
"We believe that AFEX-treated biomass could be an effective feedstock for our Q-microbe in producing cellulosic ethanol," said Dr. Parekh. AFEX opens up biomass cell-wall structures, thereby increasing the effectiveness of digestion.
"MBI's mission is to accelerate bio-based technologies from early stage to practical application," states Dr. Bobby Bringi, President and CEO of MBI.
"MBI minimizes risk by demonstrating commercial viability at a meaningful pilot scale. We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with SunEthanol, an innovative biofuels technology company, to determine the commercial viability of their Q-Microbe approach."
