23 November 2015
Butadiene is a raw material
used in the production of rubber for
tires, as well as for electrical appliances, footwear, plastics,
asphalt, building materials, and latex.
The demand for butadiene
is over 20 billion pounds per year worldwide, and growing.
By producing a renewable butadiene, the everyday products
made with it, like tires, can become more sustainable,
with a smaller environmental footprint.
DETAILS
Genomatica and Braskem
announced they have been successfully producing
at lab scale since June 2015,
using their direct, bio-based process.
The companies are jointly developing
a commercial process
for the on-purpose production of butadiene
made from renewable feedstocks,
as announced in December 2013.
Program results include:
- Direct, continuous production: The program team
has successfully developed
a microorganism
that consumes sugar and converts it to
butadiene at lab scale, in two-liter fermenters.
Butadiene has been produced, collected and
measured continuously, over
the course of multiple days for each fermentation.
- Development of multiple direct pathways
and novel enzymes:
To develop an optimal process, Genomatica used
its computational tools to figure out every possible way
that a microorganism could theoretically make butadiene,
and identified 60 potential biological pathways.
The five best were selected for experimental validation,
conducted by Genomatica and Braskem teams
in San Diego and Campinas, along with full-time
visiting scientists from
Braskem at Genomatica’s Innovation Center.
The team explored a large number of enzyme candidates,
applying environmental sampling and metagenomics,
for each step in the potential pathways.
Genomatica then multiplied enzyme activity 60-fold
on non-native substrates using
its high-throughput screening and
enzyme engineering capabilities.
- More intellectual property: The program team
has significantly added to the extensive intellectual property
that Braskem and Genomatica have in this field.
This work speaks to design of optimal microorganisms
and processes; supports subsequent development stages;
and represents an important competitive advantage.
For more information:
For Genomatica:
Rob Adler
415.984.1970 x0104
For Braskem:
Ana Beatriz Paschoal
55 11 3643.2737
anabeatriz.paschoal@cdn.com.br
Thais Corrêa
55 11 3643.2914
thais.correa@cdn.com.br
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