Genomatica Swaps Petroleum for Sugar to Make Building Block for Plastic

• 

  Your Email: *

  Your Name: *

  Send To: *

  Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.

  You are going to email the following: Genomatica Swaps Petroleum for Sugar to Make Building Block for Plastic

  Message Subject: (Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from GreenBiz.com®

  Message Body: (Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from GreenBiz.com®.

  Your Personal Message: *
  
• 
• 
• 

SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- Genomatica, a company focused on bringing sustainability to chemical production, says it is on the path to mass-producing a widely used manufacturing compound with sugar instead of petroleum.

The company has genetically modified E. coli to produce 1,4-butanediol (BDO) when consuming sugar. BDO is a raw material used in manufacturing plastic, rubber and fiber products, including pharmaceuticals, solvents, automotive parts, electronics and apparel. Current production is estimated at 3 billion pounds annually, with a value of $4 billion.

Genomatica first produced BDO using the microorganism in February 2008, and in the following months improved its productivity 1,000-fold. The company aims to begin making BDO in a global-scale production plant within a year.

BDO is currently made with oil and natural gas as feedstocks, but Genomatica's process replaces them with sugar from sugar cane. The modified E. Coli was developed to tolerate the conditions needed to create large volumes of BDO at a low cost. Genomatica estimates that its process will produce BDO at a lower cost than petroleum-based methods in about a year.

The San Diego-based company aims to create other commodity chemicals with the same method, by creating new forms of microorganism through genetic modification, and using those organisms to produce chemicals during the fermentation of other materials.

Share: LinkedIn   StumbleUpon   Digg