Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits, a provider of fermentation ingredients to the fuel ethanol industry, has partnered with Mascoma Corporation, a renewable fuels company, to launch their next generation advanced yeast product, TransFermYield+.
TransFerm Yield+ is a bioengineered drop-in substitute for conventional fermenting yeast that lowers costs and improves efficiencies for corn ethanol producers by: alleviating the need to purchase a significant amount of the expensive glucoamylase (GA) enzymes, comparable to the performance of TransFerm, which is Lallemand and Mascoma’s first bioengineered yeast product; reducing the production of glycerol; and improving ethanol yield.
TransFerm Yield+ works by expressing GA enzymes, similar to TransFerm, and by significantly reducing the amount of glycerol production during fermentation via an alternative ethanol pathway that has been inserted in the yeast. This pathway creates more ethanol with no increase in the amount of corn needed. TransFerm Yield+ is the latest commercial application of Mascoma’s proprietary consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) technology platform.
In a recent pilot test conducted at ICM, a provider of engineering services to the ethanol industry, and commercial-scale trials at corn ethanol producers, TransFerm Yield+ consistently demonstrated ethanol yield improvements of up to 4 percent. Commercial-scale trials are currently underway at several corn ethanol producers.
Both TransFerm and TransFerm Yield+, which are currently commercially available, are manufactured and distributed by Lallemand and jointly marketed and sold by Mascoma and Lallemand through their exclusive partnership.
According to Bill Brady, president and CEO of Mascoma, these two products are important steps in realizing our goal of establishing our CBP technology platform as the industry standard in the conversion of biomass to replacements for petroleum products.
TransFerm Yield+ can significantly improve ethanol yield through reduced glycerol production while simultaneously producing GA, company officials said. Furthermore, TransFerm Yield+ has consistently demonstrated its industrial robustness and can handle temperature and ethanol stress as well as or better than conventional yeast.
“We believe that the bottom line benefit to the average ethanol plant will be measured in millions of dollars,” said Bill Nankervis, president of Lallemand Specialties Division. “Our partnership with Mascoma is bringing real value to the industry and we look forward to further innovations in the years ahead.”