About General Biomass

About Us

General Biomass Company is an Illinois corporation currently developing glycosyl hydrolases, engineered industrial enzymes which break down sugar polymers. General Biomass cellulase enzymes convert non-food biomass to glucose for production of cellulosic ethanol, butanol, nextgen biofuels and bioplastics. Cellulase enzymes are the key to producing very large amounts of biomass sugars, the core feedstock for renewable diesel, renewable jet fuel and renewable gasoline. The total world market for biofuels will be $76 billion in 2010 and $247 billion in 2020. General Biomass technology enables production of a wide variety of enzymes for biofuels, medical and industrial applications.

Sugar for biofuels and bioplastics

All industrial fermentations run on sugar. Their energy and chemical building blocks come from sugars, today from cane sugar (sucrose) in Brazil, or from corn sugar (glucose) in the United States. This presents a problem for the growth of biofuels in the U.S. and Canada, since little sugar cane is grown in North America, and corn can produce only about 13 billion gallons of ethanol at the maximum. We need to produce at least 60 billion gallons of renewable biofuels in the U.S., and therefore need large quantities of sugars from biomass. First generation biodiesel is made from plant oils like palm oil, and the supply is limited. In contrast, truly large scale production of drop-in biofuels like renewable diesel and renewable jet fuel will require very large quantities of biomass sugars. New fermentation and catalytic technologies are making these next generation biofuels a reality, but producing them at scale will require vast quantities of sugars, which must come from cellulosic biomass.

We also need to begin replacing petroleum-based plastics with renewable bioplastics made from lactic acid produced by fermentation of nonfood sugars derived from urban waste paper, sustainable forests, and other energy crops.

The solution for continued biofuels and bioplastics growth is to make large quantities of glucose and xylose sugars from nonfood biomass, using glycosyl hydrolase enzymes and technology developed by General Biomass.

We also offer consulting services in the areas of biomass processing and cellulosic ethanol production. We are proud to be a member of the Illinois Biotechnology Industry Organization (iBIO), the Illinois Technology Development Alliance (ITDA), and the American Coalition for Ethanol.

General Biomass Company 2906 Central Street, #134 Evanston, IL 60201 U.S.A. Email: dgibbs@generalbiomass.com Phone: 847-433-4323 FAX: 847-475-5226

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