There are many paths towards turning biological material into fuel. More than 1,800 biofuels companies are using nearly as many different technologies to turn biomass into a renewable source of energy. And many of these technologies work on a variety of feedstocks, at least in the lab or at pilot-scale plants. The problem is not the technology per se, but rather whether the technology will make sufficient quantities of some type of fuel cheaply enough to be cost competitive with traditional petroleum fuels. Mascoma thinks it has the answer: consolidated bioprocessing.

 

Consolidated bioprocessing is a low-cost strategy for production of biofuels from cellulosic biomass that bypasses the need for using costly cellulase enzymes by using engineered microorganisms that produce cellulases and ethanol at high yield in a single step. On May 7, the Lebanon, New Hampshire-based Mascoma announced it had made major research advances in consolidated bioprocessing. Consolidated bioprocessing, recently called “the golden dream” of ethanol production by Helena Chum of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, was noted as “the ultimate low-cost configuration for cellulose hydrolysis and fermentation” in the DOE/USDA 2006 Roadmap because it avoids the need for added cellulose enzymes to process pretreated lignocellulose into ethanol.

 

In early May in San Francisco, Mascoma Chief Technology Officer Mike Ladisch presented multiple research advances as proof-of-concept for consolidated bioprocessing during the 31st Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals in San Francisco. These include advances with both thermophiles, bacteria that grow at high temperatures, and recombinant cellulolytic yeasts. Mascoma has seen a 60 percent increase in the volume of ethanol produced by an engineered thermophile, and a 3,000-fold increase in cellulase expression using recombinant, cellulolytic yeast, compared to what it could produce in June of 2008.

 

Mascoma’s proof-of-concept consolidated bioprocessor is considered to be an important R&D advance in cellulosic biofuels production. “This is a true breakthrough that takes us much, much closer to billions of gallons of low cost cellulosic biofuels,” says Michigan State University’s Bruce Dale, who is also editor of the journal Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefineries. “Many had thought that consolidated bioprocessing was years or even decades away, but the future just arrived. Mascoma has permanently changed the biofuels landscape from here on.”

 

Jim Flatt, Mascoma executive vice president of research, development and operations, says that it will “enable the reduction in operating and capital costs required for cost-effective commercial production of ethanol,” and bring Mascoma closer to the commercialization of its product. 

 

Now the company must demonstrate how quickly it can translate the lab results into production results in the plant. Mascoma began producing cellulosic ethanol at its pilot facility in Rome, New York last February, processing up to 20 tons of wood a year. It will provide process performance engineering data to support construction of a commercial biorefinery in Kinross, Michigan. In October, 2008, the Department of Energy announced that it would provide $26 million in funding for the facility, to which the state of Michigan will add $23.5 million.