Leaf Resources announces collaboration Novozymes to design tailored enzyme package to further increase yields and efficiency associated with its patented Glycell biomass pretreatment process.
Australia-headed biotechnology company Leaf Resources has announced a collaboration with Denmark-headed Novozymes, the world’s largest producer of industrial enzymes, to further increase the yields and efficiency associated with Leaf Resources’ patented “Glycell” biomass pretreatment process to produce clean, cellulosic sugars.
The biomass pretreatment technology is a unique combination of well-established process engineering and advanced chemistry that operates at low temperature and pressure, and uses crude glycerin as a low cost, recyclable reagent. The process efficiently deconstructs plant biomass and produces a high-yield of high-quality, concentrated cellulose and hemicellulose sugars, which in turn enables cost competitive production of renewable chemicals.
As part of the collaboration, Novozymes will use its expertise in biotechnology to customise its broad portfolio of robust, high-yielding enzymes to the Glycell process. The goal of the collaboration is to design a highly tailored enzyme package that allows the process to achieve superior performance, quality, and reliability for the production of high-value renewable chemicals. Leaf and its US development partner, Claeris, LLC, will then incorporate Novozymes’ tailored enzyme package into the biomass pretreatment section of integrated biorefineries.
– Production trials performed by independent third parties have validated the performance of the Glycell process and confirms both the unique nature and economic viability of our process.Our continued work with Claeris and a number of potential production partners confirms the strong interest of all stakeholders in large-scale renewable chemicals production, and we look forward to working with Novozymes to make it a reality, said Ken Richards, Managing Director of Leaf Resources.
– The combined scientific expertise of our companies makes it possible to enhance the conversion of biomass to sugars which, when combined with the development expertise of Claeris, will help accelerate the development of renewable chemicals. There is a clear move towards sustainable chemical production and we believe the combination of Claeris and the Glycell process will help further enable the industry, said Michael Burns, Head of Biorefining Business Development for North America at Novozymes.
