Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions Industrial Biotechnology and Biorefining Matt Carr Policy Director Biotechnology Industry Organization 2009 Science Attaché Briefing

What is Industrial (White) Biotechnology?

The Third Wave in Biotechnology

The Third Wave  Pharmaceuticals  

well developed and growing over $20 billion in sales

 Agriculture 

Biotech

established and thriving in some markets (e.g. U.S., Argentina, and Canada)

NEXT WAVE:  Fuels, Chemicals and Manufacturing

Industrial Biotechnology • Application of life sciences to traditional manufacturing and chemical synthesis • Using micro-organisms (bacteria, fungi) and enzymes (specialty proteins) to improve manufacturing processes…

• …and make new “biobased” products and materials from renewable feedstocks

Microbes Found in Nature

Selecting & Improving Microbes

Some Tools in the Industrial Biotech Toolbox Genomics, Proteomics, and Bioinformatics 

Gene Shuffling  High Throughput Screening  Directed Evolution  Metabolic Engineering  Molecular Breeding  Protein Engineering  Extremeophiles

Our Ability to Cut and Paste Genes In Microbes Allows Us To Work in Tandem With Nature’s Diversity Like Never Before

Industrial & Environmental Section Member Companies Technology Providers •Novozymes, Genencor, Codexis

Feedstock Providers • Cargill, Ceres, Mendel

Chemicals Industry • DuPont, Dow, DSM

Biomaterials/Bioplastics Industry • Natureworks, Metabolix

Biofuels Industry • Abengoa, Iogen, Poet, BP, Chevron

Reducing GHG Exposure in Manufacturing Need to look at all stages of production 

Feedstocks • Low fossil CO2



Manufacture • More efficient / smarter technologies



Emissions • Capture / re-use / sequestration



Industrial Biotechnology is key

Low Fossil CO2 Feedstocks

BIOFUELS

Industrial Biotech in Biofuels Production Industrial biotech is changing everything…  Starch 

Ethanol

New enzymes for starch ethanol production

 Cellulosic 

Ethanol

Cellulase enzymes are making ethanol from cellulose a reality

 Higher

Alcohols & Renewable Hydrocarbons 

The future of fuels?

Starch Ethanol Production New “no-cook” enzymes further dramatically improving economics… Broin / Novozymes Process for Corn Grain Ethanol

• Advanced fractionation • “No-cook” starch hydrolysis

Cellulosic Biomass: The New “Crude Oil”

Corn stover

Wood chips

Sugar Cane Bagasse

Improved High-Biomass Sorghum

The Pacific Dampwood Termite Zootermopsis angusticollis

Salmassi and Leadbetter

Courtesy of Jared Leadbetter, CalTech, Pasadena, CA

Cellulosic Ethanol Activity

Higher Alcohols & Renewable Hydrocarbons 

Biobutanol 



Higher energy density, but toxic to micro-organisms

Green gasoline 

Use synthetic biology to produce organisms capable of generating renewable petroleum surrogates

Low Fossil CO2 Feedstocks

Source: US EPA

Low Fossil CO2 Feedstocks Biofuels 



GHG profile of corn starch ethanol rapidly improving with more efficient processing technologies Full utilization of U.S. cellulosic biomass potential could reduce U.S. transportationrelated GHG emissions 80% by 2050 (Natural Resources Defense Council)

Low Fossil CO2 Feedstocks

BIOBASED CHEMICALS

Low Fossil CO2 Feedstocks Biobased Chemicals   

Bioplastics Polyols Other biobased chemicals

Biobased Plastics NatureWorks – Polylactic acid (PLA) via fermentation from corn starch

– Marketed under brand name Ingeo – Rapidly growing market share in fabrics and packaging – Agreement with Wal-Mart to provide biobased plastic packaging

Bioplastics: NatureWorks PLA [lifecycle kg CO2 eq./ kg polymer]

9 8

7.9 6.8

7 6

The use of a renewable feedstock + the purchase of RECs allows NatureWorks PLA to achieve GHG neutral

5 4

3.4

3.4

3.4

3.2

3 1.9

2

1.7

1 0.0

0 Nylon 66

HIPS

PlasticsEurope

Cellophane (film)

GPPS

PET SSP

PP

• 20-80% reduction vs. petroleum competitors

PET am

PLA 2005 PLA1

PLA PLA1 w/RECs 2006/2007

Bioplastics: DuPont-Tate & Lyle Bio-PDO Bio-PDO 





Replaces petroleum feedstock with sugars from corn starch Requires 40% less energy to produce than petroleum equivalent New production facility in Tennessee will save energy equivalent of 22,000 cars

Bioplastics: Metabolix-ADM PHAs PHAs 

Currently produced in bacteria, but with long-term goal of production in switchgrass for net GHG benefit Bacteria with plastic nodules

Soy Polyols Cargill BiOH  

 

Polyol derived from soybean oil Rapidly gaining market share in flexible polyurethane foams Winner EPA Green Chemistry Challenge Award 36% reduction in GHG emissions

More Efficient Production

BIOCATALYSIS

More Efficient Production Biocatalysis 





Use of biological catalysts (enzymes) to perform chemical transformations Has been used for centuries, but new biotech tools have opened up many new possibilities High selectivity + low environmental impact

Biocatalysis: Acrylamide Acrylamide 





Mitsubishi Rayon developed enzyme to produce acrylamide from acrylonitrile Greatly improved process efficiency and product concentration

80% reduction in GHG emissions Chemical Process

Bioprocess

70 C

0-15 C

Single-pass reaction yield

70-80%

100%

Acrylamide concentration

30%

48-50%

Energy demand (steam + electricity MJ/kg)

1.9

0.4

CO2 production (kg CO2/kg acrylamide)

1.5

0.3

Reaction temperature

Biocatalysis: Vitamin B2 Vitamin B2 50% reduction in GHG emissions OLD CHEMCIAL PROCESS



Many Steps Glucose Ca-Arabonate Ca-Ribonate Riobolactone Ribose Ribitylxylidine Phenylazo-RX

VITAMIN B2

NEW INDUSTRIAL BIOTECH PROCESS



One Step Fermentation with genetically modified micro-organism

VITAMIN B2

Other Industrial Uses of Enzymes

Emissions Capture

BIOCONVERSION OF CO2

Emissions Capture Bioconversion of CO2 



CO2 and other GHG emissions are FOOD for many microorganisms such as algae and other photosynthetic bacteria Microbes can be placed as CO2 “scrubbers” on smokestacks and then harvested for biofuels, hydrogen, and an array of chemicals

Emissions Capture Bioconversion of CO2 

Growing number of businesses, universities, and government labs are developing and testing technologies to be the first to commercialize such “mitigation bioreactors”

Voluntary Action United States Climate Action Partnership 

Top industrial companies have joined forces with environmental groups to press Congress for strong climate legislation – many have made industrial biotechnology a major part of their corporate strategy

THANK YOU

[email protected] www.bio.org/ind