technology
GBL has developed a distinctive fermentation technology package for butanol production based on a unique and diverse collection of industrial microbes together with specialist skills in microbial strain improvement and fermentation process optimisation.
Unique Microbial Platforms
The microbe collection contains more than 100 industrially proven clostridial strains for the butanol fermentation plus approximately 800 unique thermophilic strains. The collection also contains modified strains that have been genetically and biochemically characterised. Strain details are deposited into a proprietary database with a web based interface with search features to cross reference data and to simplify screening.
Metabolic Engineering
GBL has developed molecular biology toolkits to manipulate Clostridia and Geobacillus. We have pioneered techniques for genetic manipulation of novel microbes from our culture collection improving product titre and yield.
Advanced Butanol Fermentation Technology
GBL has developed a modern fermentation process design utilising the best in class fermentation and distillation technology combined with industrially proven microbial strains to provide a solution today for butanol. We are developing further advances in continuous fermentation and integrated product recovery to drive down cost further.
Low Cost Feedstocks
GBL's microbes produce butanol from a wide range of low cost sustainable feedstocks, agricultural by-products, wastes and cellulosic material. GBL works closely with commercial partners to match the best strain to the appropriate feedstock.
GBL's production strains for butanol have much larger substrate ranges than yeast and are better suited for sugars derived from cellulosic feedstocks. They require fewer enzymes and reduced enzyme loadings which have a major impact on the cost of hydrolysis.
Many of GBL's thermophiles are cellulolytic and can ferment cellulose directly to a range of renewable chemicals. The application of thermophiles to a simultaneous saccharification and hydrolysis process is also an attractive option.
Product Pipeline
Thermophiles make attractive hosts for industrial biotechnology. They are robust and display high rates of metabolic activity, fast growth and high productivities. In addition, they grow on a wide range of substrates and produce a range of reduced fermentation products such as organic acids, alcohols and solvents. GBL has already developed thermophilic strains for ethanol and lactic acid.
GBL is progressing a range of options to produce higher value chemicals from its existing Clostridial platform and from its next generation high temperature technology.
Metabolic engineering is used to generate the next generation of butanol producing microbes.
Genetic Profiling of GBL culture collection