Taking advantage of the applications of its technology, advanced biofuels developer LS9 announced a strategic partnership with Procter and Gamble to produce key chemicals used to make P&G’s consumer products. The partnership includes a multi-year collaboration that will accelerate the adoption of the privately held company’s proprietary technology to produce a broad portfolio of commercial products, including sustainable chemicals and renewable transportation fuels.

 

While the specific terms of the partnership were not disclosed, it is expected that it will help LS9 accelerate its business model and the adoption of its technology. LS9 uses synthetic biology to produce proprietary biofuels that are compatible with existing fuel distribution infrastructure, including renewable diesel, as well as high-value industrial chemicals. Its genetically engineered bacteria convert sugar into hydrocarbons—specifically fatty acid alkyl esters—that are virtually indistinguishable from those found in fossil fuels. LS9 says its designer biofuels use 35 percent less energy than is needed to make sugarcane-based ethanol.

 

Oil industry veteran Bill Haywood, who came on board as CEO of LS9 in late 2008, had been looking to raise up to $100 million to scale up production by building a demonstration plant by the end of 2010. “P&G is an ideal partner for LS9,” says Haywood. “By joining LS9’s technology with P&G’s market reach, the partnership will accelerate the delivery of sustainable, low-carbon, high-value chemical products into the world market.”

 

The partnership will also help P&G meet some of its ambitious sustainability goals, which the company revised in March. Those goals include a 2012 target date to achieve $50 billion in sales of sustainable innovation products that have a 10 percent reduced environmental footprint compared to previous products. Using sustainable chemicals from renewable sources helps P&G achieve these long-term sustainability goals by employing one of the cleanest and most efficient technologies available to produce chemicals for consumer products. The partnership will support the joint development and commercialization of LS9 technology to produce key chemicals used within the P&G portfolio of consumer products.

 

At the ThinkGreen conference in San Francisco in March, Haywood said the company was looking for partners in Brazil for its first commercial-scale biodiesel plant because of the ready availability of so-called energy cane, an initial feedstock for its fuel, and a robust market for diesel. He hopes to have a commercial plant operational by 2012. LS9 isn't the first U.S. advanced biofuels developer looking south toward Brazil. Emeryville, California-based Amyris Biotechnologies formed a joint venture with Brazilian ethanol marketer Crysalsev in 2008 and plans to have commercial production of its biodiesel by 2010.