Major advances in biofuel technology: Garbage today, Ethanol tomorrow

The University of Maryland study, which began with the Chesapeka Bay bacterium, has turned into a process that can transfer large amounts of all industrial waste, from brewed water to waste paper, to ethanol and of course. Other biological materials become gasoline.

The process, developed by Professor Steve Hutcheson and Ron Weiner, a professor of genetics and cell biology at the University of Maryland, is the foundation for the incubation of their Zymetis company, presented. March 10, 2008 in the presence of President Martin O'Malley of Park Maryland University, university and state officials.'The new Zymetis technology is a win for Maryland, for school and for the environment , ' said University of Maryland Principal CD Mote, Jr., 'It produces ethanol products with moderate prices from waste materials. waste, this benefits everyone and supports the carbon-free environmental green target '

75 billion gallons a year

The Zymetis process can produce ethanol and other biofuels from various industrial crops and waste called cellulose sources. Cellulosic biofuels can be made from non-grain industrial products such as junk paper, by-products of composting; excess agricultural products including straw, corn cobs and rice husks; even potential crops like switchgrass.

A Chesapeake Bay swamp grass bacterium, S. degradans has an enzyme that can quickly break down industrial materials, such as an old newspaper, into sugar, and then convert it into biofuel ( Photo: University of Maryland)

When fully operational, the Zymetis process can yield 75 billion gallons of carbon-free ethanol a year.
The secret of the Zymetis process is the Chesapeake Bay swamp grass bacterium, S. degradans. Hutcheson found that the bacterium has an enzyme that can quickly break down industrial materials into sugar, which can then be converted into biofuels.

Researchers at Zymetis were unable to isolate the bacterium again in nature, but they found a way to make this enzyme in the lab. It is Ethazyme , capable of disintegrating cell walls of cellulosic materials and turning all of these industrial materials into sugars to make biofuels in one step, with significantly reduced costs. and produce less caustic chemicals than other methods.

Hutcheson is expected to spend about $ 5 billion on the enzyme market to make biofuels. The money was passed by the US Senate in December to authorize oil companies to mix 21 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol with gasoline by 2022.

Inventors of the year

Hutcheson and Weiner won the "Technological innovator of the year 2007" award at the University's life science for their invention of the enzyme system.

Founded in 2006, Zymetis participated in the school's MTECH Business Help Program. This program provides business help to departments or students who want to set up companies around the field of patented technology at the school.'MTECH program helped us validate the market,' Hutcheson said. " They found a space for our company to grow. They helped us with copyright registration for this technology, set up financial planning, business, and brand creation."

Zymetis also sought experts from MTECH's practical biological equipment (BSF) staff to determine how to mass-produce S. degradans. BSF is part of the MTECH biotechnology research and training program, an initiative for research, training and development of biotechnology products and methods for Maryland companies.

Watch video of bacteria turning a newspaper into biofuel at:
http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/video/zymetis.cfm