- Agrivida - Agrivida is developing technology to cost-effectively convert cellulose into fermentable sugars. They insert pieces of enzymes into the plant-stock, but under normal physiological conditions, the enzymes are not active. Once the crops are harvested however, a change in heat, or pH, or some other factor causes the enzymes to assemble and become active. They have named their technology GreenGenes. They are based out of Medford, MA.
- Algenol - Algenol has hybrid strains of algae which both produce sugar, and ferment that sugar into ethanol. As the algae produce ethanol, the ethanol is secreted, evaporates, and then condenses again on the roof of the bioreactor in which the algae reside. The ethanol is then funneled out of the reactor where it can be purified. Algenol is located in Bonita Springs, FL.
- Allopartis - Allopartis is developing and enhancing enzymes to produce ethanol from cellulosic sources. They have created a proprietary screening technique they call Alloscreen which combines emulsions, directed evolution, and solid cellulose particles. Allopartis is located in the Mission Bay area of San Francisco, CA.
- Bio Architecture Lab - BAL uses synthetic biology and enzyme design to create fuel and chemicals from seaweed. They estimate that they are able to produce 2000 gallons of ethanol per acre of ocean per year. They are located in Berkeley, CA and Santiago, Chile.
- CELLANA - CELLANA is focussed on using algae to produce oil and feedstock from algae. They use non genetically modified algae grown in a two-stage process they call ALDUO, combining both open-air and bio-reactor features. The algae begin in a closed-system, allowing them to grow in conditions that favor cell division while protecting the crop from contamination of other algae species. The algae is then transferred to an open system where it experiences stresses designed to provoke the algae to produce large quantities of oil. A few days after transfer, the algae is harvested, dried, and then the oil is extracted. Cellana is based on the Kona coast of the Big Island of Hawai'i.
- Codexis - Codexis is working on enhancing existing enzymes using directed evolution. They are currently using their technology to enhance cellulase enzymes as well as improve enzymes for pharmaceutical purposes. They are headquartered in Redwood City, CA.
- gevo - Has technology including a yeast biocatalyst that will convert sugar into isobutanol, as well as a separation unit which should allow for existing ethanol plants to easily switch over to producing isobutanol. They are also partnering with Cargill to develop a yeast catalyst to produce isobutanol from cellulosic sources. The corporate headquarters are located in Englewood, CO.
- Mascoma - Mascoma uses yeast and bacteria which have been engineered to produce large amounts of enzymes to break down cellulose into sugar for fermentation. In their process, called Consolidated Bioprocessing (CBP) the two steps of cellulose to sugar conversion and fermentation are combined. They are located in Lebanon, NH.
- Sapphire Energy - Sapphire Energy is developing algae which will directly produce fuels such as 91 octane gasoline, 89 cetane diesel, and jet fuel. They have successfully demonstrated a test flight of a Boeing 737 using jet fuel produced from their algae. Their integrated bio-refinery in New Mexico was awarded a $100 million grant from the U.S. government. Sapphire Energy is located in San Diego, CA.
- Synthetic Genomics
- Solazyme
- Verdezyne - Verdezyne is engineering genetic pathways in yeast to optimize the conversion to sugar of starch, sugarcane, and cellulosic biomass. They have technology to "simultaneously optimize the oligonucleotide sequences, mRNA secondary structure and species-specific codon-usage." Additionally, they have algorithms to model the protein backbone and side-chains, as well as have developed energy functions. They are located in Carlsbad, CA.
- Verenium
Biofuel Companies
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