TU Delft and the Kluyver Centre have licensed a modified yeast for the efficient production of bioethanol from agricultural waste to DSM. As part of this licence agreement, DSM is investing in follow-up research at TU Delft.
In 2009, TU Delft researchers achieved improvements in the production of ethanol from waste products by incorporating a single bacteria gene in yeast. The result is no glycerol formation and consumption of toxic acetate, with a resulting higher ethanol yield.
For DSM the licence agreement is an opportunity to investigate further production improvements for this yeast.
The advanced yeast is already producing over twice the amount of ethanol from biomass than standard production organisms currently on the market. If the yeast performs just as well under practical conditions as it does in the experiments at TU Delft, then it will bring the breakthrough of second-generation biofuels a step closer.
—Piet van Egmond, R&D program manager at DSM
DSM and TU Delft are also examining possibilities for making this technology available to third parties.