The Landscape
Biofuels play a key role in climate stabilization, and are a major component of a sustainable transportation sector.
In addition to potential for large-scale supply, rural economic development, and desirable environmental attributes, the purchase cost of widely available cellulosic feedstocks is competitively priced with petroleum even at $50/barrel.
Cellulosic biofuels (40% CAGR needed*)
- $/GJ purchase cost of cellulosic biomass less than petroleum
- Primary energy from biomass comparable to wind and solar combined in low-C scenarios for 2050 compiled by the IPCC
- Ethanol is inherently less expensive to produce than other biologically-derived liquid fuels or fuel intermediates
Sustainable Aviation Fuels (75% CAGR needed*)
- Ethanol -> jet fuel is coming on fast (Gevo, Honeywell, Lanzajet, Neste, SAPPHIRE, World Energy); 50 off-take agreements in last 2 years
- For SAF from lignocellulose, biological production of ethanol followed by upgrading to hydrocarbons is among the most promising routes and low-cost, scalable, cellulosic ethanol is the key missing piece.
Negative emissions (78% CAGR needed*)
- Fermentation off gas is the lowest cost carbon capture and storge opportunity bar none
- For cellulosic ethanol, 70% of feedstock carbon is capturable although > 50% feedstock energy -> fuels
* For climate change mitigation (IEA), CAGR refers to annual growth rate
The Opportunity
Current technologies for conversion of cellulosic biofuels to ethanol are expensive due to the high cost of pretreatment and added enzymes.
There is an opportunity to disrupt this process through innovative solutions.
The Terragia Solution
Terragia’s distinctive technology and strategy eliminates costly enzyme addition and thermochemical pretreatment.
The Lynd Lab is a leading pioneer of consolidated bioprocessing, (CBP), widely recognized as the ultimate low-cost configuration for cellulose hydrolysis and fermentation.
Our technology has the potential for cost competitiveness with fossil fuels in the long-term.