Enzyme Technology - General Biomass

Enzyme Technology

General Biomass Company develops hydrolytic enzymes to convert biomass to next-generation biofuels and bioplastics. Our enzymes make glucose and xylose from biomass. Glucose from cellulose and xylose from hemicellulose are the core feedstocks for nextgen biofuels, whether ethanol, butanol or designer biofuels. Inquiries about the company should be directed to dgibbs@generalbiomass.com.

Cellobiohydrolase image from Pfam

Enzymes are biochemical catalysts which speed up chemical reactions by reducing the energy needed for those specific reactions to occur. Enzymes are thus inherently energy-efficient. Enzymes are proteins, sequences of amino acids encoded by the DNA of enzyme genes, of which there are millions, each one coding for an enzyme which catalyzes a specific chemical reaction needed for life. We are interested in glycosyl hydrolases, the enzymes which break down sugar polymers like cellulose and hemicellulose in biomass. Because plant matter and cellulose are ubiquitous, organisms which digest plant matter have evolved millions of times. Thus there are a wide variety of cellulase genes in nature, and a few of these are suitable for industrial processes such as the production of cellulosic ethanol and bioplastics. Our technology allows us to identify, modify and produce cellulases and other enzymes for production of biofuels and bioplastics from biomass, and for medical applications.

Enzymes and cellulosic biofuels

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. 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. Currently, it takes approximately 100 grams of cellulase enzyme proteins to make one gallon of cellulosic ethanol. This means that just one billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol would require 110,000 tons of cellulase enzymes. This is about twice the annual production of all industrial enzymes in 1994. Thus the production of large quantities of cellulase enzymes is a critical technology for energy independence, and cellulase production is a critical industry for reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

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 such as those developed by General Biomass.

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