Ethanol milestone hit by biomass-to-biofuel process

Deinove, a France-based company which designs and develops new industrial production processes based on the exploitation of Deinococcus bacteria, has produced 9% ethanol via its process.

The company believes this landmark shows its bacterial process is suitable for converting this type of biomass-to-biofuel and should offer industrial production costs fall in line with market expectations.

‘With an alcohol titer at 9%, we are well above the objectives we set at the launch of our Deinol programme,’ says Deinove CEO Emmanuel Petiot. ‘In light of discussions with manufacturers, we believe we will shortly be able to announce partnerships in several areas of bio-based chemistry.’

Jacqueline Lecourtier, chair of Deinove’s Scientific Council, adds: ‘To our knowledge no other bacterial fermentation process has demonstrated such capabilities to date. It could bring a commercially profitable and environmentally sustainable solution for a post-petroleum era.’

The Deinol project began in 2009 and has been partly financed by Bpifrance (the French Innovation Bank).