Global Bioenergies receives three additional fundings from the European Union, further supporting its strategy of feedstock diversification
Global Bioenergies to take part in three large H2020 projects gathering numerous academic institutions and industrialists from all over Europe
Aim at diversifying Global Bioenergies' process to using hardwood, industrial gases and electricity as feedstocks
Grants directly to Global Bioenergies totaling €2m over 4 years
Evry (France), 15 May 2018 - Global Bioenergies (Euronext Growth: ALGBE) announces today having been selected in three additional Horizon 2020 projects funded by the European Union, and will receive for this purpose about €2m in grants over 4 years. These projects reinforce Global Bioenergies' strategy of feedstock diversification in order to continue improving the economics and the environmental impact of its Isobutene process.
Global Bioenergies' bio-process for the production of isobutene relies on the use of renewable resources. The process is presently operated at demo-plant scale using first generation feedstocks, such as sugar beet sucrose or wheat glucose. For several years now, Global Bioenergies has been actively investigating the adaptation of its process to second and third generation feedstocks, aiming at reducing the risk of future competition with food or feed resources, and also to continue improving the economics and the CO2-reduction level of its process.
Second generation resources consist in agricultural wastes such as wheat straw or corn stover, as well as wood chips and other forestry leftovers. Each of these feedstocks contains sugars which, once made accessible to microorganisms by physical and enzymatic treatments, have proven being excellent substrates for fermentation. Global Bioenergies has already announced being the coordinator in two major EU-funded projects named OPTISOCHEM and REWOFUEL, respectively targeting the use of wheat straw and softwood to produce isobutene derivatives, and will receive a total of €10m as grants from these two programs.
Third generation feedstocks consist in inorganic carbon resources, such as carbon dioxide or monoxide from industrial waste, and represent the ultimate alternative in terms of environmental impact. In 2017, Global Bioenergies has acquired Syngip, a small Dutch company involved in third generation processes.
Global Bioenergies today announces it is taking part to three additional programs, related to second and third generation feedstocks, each of which having been selected for H2020 funding (N° 792061, 760431, and 763911) through a very competitive process led by independent experts. In total, Global Bioenergies will receive €2m in grants from these three new programs, over four years.
One of these new programs, named "SWEETWOODS" and led by the Estonian forestry industrialist Granuul Invest, targets the utilization of hardwood in fermentative processes at demo scale, with the aim of utilizing all fractions of the biomass feedstock and thus minimizing the carbon-containing streams associated to low-value uses. Global Bioenergies will validate that hardwood hydrolysates can indeed be used as a feedstock in its Isobutene process. By specifically addressing hardwood biomass, this program completes the portfolio of second generation feedstocks to be used by Global Bioenergies in its Isobutene production process.
The two other new programs are related to third generation resources. One is led by VITO, a Dutch institution among the world leaders in industrial biology, and targets the use of industrial CO2 to produce chemical compounds, and in particular isobutene. Global Bioenergies' Dutch subsidiary will dedicate a large part of its activities to this program. The other project, led by the Max Planck Institute, takes place in a new, emerging scientific field: electrobiology. The driving idea of this program is to use renewable electricity as an energy source to produce liquid fuels and materials from CO2.
Frédéric Pâques, COO of Global Bioenergies, declares: "These additional programs, gathering a total of 25 partners among the most innovative and prestigious institutions, position Global Bioenergies at the core of the European Industrial Biology endeavor. They will be key for Global Bioenergies to deploy its long-term strategy of feedstock diversification, and thereby maximize the economic as well as environmental impact of isobutene bio-production."
About GLOBAL BIOENERGIES
Global Bioenergies is one of the few companies worldwide, and the only one in Europe, that is developing a process to convert renewable resources into hydrocarbons through fermentation. The Company initially focused its efforts on the production of isobutene, one of the most important petrochemical building blocks that can be converted into fuels, plastics, organic glass and elastomers. Global Bioenergies continues to improve the performance of its process, to operate its demo plant in Germany, and to prepare the first full-scale plant through a joint venture with Cristal Union, named IBN-One. Global Bioenergies is listed on Euronext Growth Paris (FR0011052257 - ALGBE)
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GLOBAL BIOENERGIES
Frédéric Pâques
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Source: GLOBAL BIOENERGIES via Globenewswire
