Recent Successful Industrial Testing
Archer
Daniels Midland (ADM), the largest fuel
ethanol producer in the US and the world, assessed the full range of
microorganisms that could be used to convert cellulosic biomass to
ethanol. They publicly reported at the 2003 Symposium on Biotechnology for
Fuels and Chemicals that Purdue’s recombinant cellulosic ethanol-producing
Saccharomyces yeast, 424A (LNH-ST), was the most effective microorganism
of all the recombinant and non-recombinant microorganisms for the
production of cellulosic ethanol. This is indicated in this
letter to Dr. Ho.
At the same meeting, Helle et al. from the
Tembec company also reported their
success in using Dr. Ho’s 259A(LNH-ST) (another stable cellulosic
ethanol-producing Saccharomyces yeast) to ferment both the glucose and
xylose present in Spent Sulfite pulping liquor to ethanol. This liquor is
a toxic cellulosic feedstock generated as waste from pulp and paper
companies.
Iogen Corporation (Ottawa, ON, Canada),
the first company now producing cellulosic ethanol, reported their results
on using various microorganisms to produce cellulosic ethanol at the 2004
Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals. Similarly, they
confirmed that Purdue's recombinant cellulosic ethanol-producing
Saccharomyces yeast is the current most effective microorganism for the
production of cellulosic ethanol. Furthermore, Iogen is using the Purdue
recombinant yeast developed by Dr. Ho to produce its cellulosic ethanol.
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