Gevo, Inc. Develops Revolutionary Butanol Biofuel

Biobutanol and cellulosic biomass may sound like words your high school biology teacher used to confuse you. But, they are actually part of the cutting edge in biofuel technology.

Biobutanol is an advanced biofuel that can be blended directly into gasoline and be used to make renewable hydrocarbons (“green gasoline”), jet and diesel fuel, chemical intermediates and biobased plastics. Recently Gevo, Inc. was awarded $1.8 million from the U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture’s Biomass Research & Development Initiative to help fund ongoing development of its yeast strain to produce biobutanol from cellulosic biomass.

In February, Gevo acquired the license to Cargill’s proprietary cellulosic yeast strain, and is now working to complete development of an organism that will be cost effective at commercial scale. Gevo is using Cargill’s world class microorganisms to produce butanols from cellulosic sugars that are derived from plant materials such as corn stover, switchgrass, forest residues, and other sustainable feedstocks. Gevo is also working to develop capital efficient biorefinery systems to provide renewable, cost-effective building block products to the fuel and chemical industries.

“Cellulosic conversion technology is expected to be commercialized in the next few years,” said David Glassner, Ph.D., executive vice president of technology at Gevo. “Gevo wants to be ready when this happens with a yeast strain we can deploy to make biobutanol.”

Gevo’s commercial strategy is to deploy its technology by retrofitting existing ethanol plants to produce biobutanol. In September, Gevo started up the world’s first biobutanol demonstration plant created by retrofitting an existing demonstration-scale ethanol plant. In successfully producing biobutanol at the 1 million-gallon-per-year pilot plant in St. Joseph, Missouri, Gevo is demonstrating the viability of its technology for retrofitting existing ethanol plants. The successful retrofit, completed in less than three months, also represents the first step along the route to produce cellulosic biobutanol which will be possible once biomass conversion technology becomes commercially available.

"When applied at commercial scale, this technology can give ethanol plants a new future. Retrofitting existing plants represents a quick and cost-efficient way to get to advanced biofuels," said Pat Gruber, CEO of Gevo. "We congratulate the team in St. Joseph for their success in commissioning the plant and look forward to working with ethanol producers to convert existing plants to butanol."

Biomass represents a significant challenge for fermentation as the complex carbohydrate structures in plant cells break down into a mixed sugar composition that challenges the metabolism of all microbial strains. Gevo's biobutanol is produced via fermentation similar to ethanol’s process, and can utilize the bulk of the equipment in an ethanol plant. Gevo's biorefinery process replaces the ethanol producing yeast with yeast that produces biobutanol.

Gevo’s proprietary separation process technology allows for the economical recovery of the product. The additional cost of this capital equipment is projected to be approximately 30 cents per gallon of installed ethanol capacity. The retrofitted facilities will have the flexibility to produce either ethanol or biobutanol. Gevo anticipates being fully commercial by 2011.