by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The end-goal? High-value oils. Low-cost sugars become shock troops in the war for sustainability.
In New York, we’ve learned that Sweetwater Energy will announce a project today to provide Naturally Scientific with customized industrial sugars over the course of 15 years in a transaction valued at $250 million.
Sweetwater will use its patented, decentralized process to convert locally available cellulosic material, such as crop residues, energy crops, and wood waste into sugar, which Naturally Scientific will utilize to process into high-value vegetable oils in the United States.
Sweetwater will use its patented, hub-and-spoke process to convert locally available cellulosic, non-food biomass, such as crop residues, energy crops, and woody biomass into highly fermentable sugar, The company’s sugar solution is sold to refineries, which use it to produce biofuels, biochemicals, and bioplastics. Unlike petroleum-based technologies, Sweetwater Energy’s process uses renewable plant materials that are both grown domestically and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
…“This agreement shows how Sweetwater’s sugar is an ideal feedstock—not just for biofuel production, but also ideal for biochemicals,” says Arunas Chesonis, Chairman and CEO of Sweetwater Energy. “Naturally Scientific’s innovative oil technology meshes amazingly well with Sweetwater’s. We’re looking forward to helping Naturally Scientific expand new markets for bio-based oils.”
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We wrote: “Then, there’s plant cell culturing. Naturally Scientific is using this process, and waste CO2, to bio-manufacture fermentable sugars and pure vegetable oil (PVO) from plant cell cultures. In the first stage waste CO2, water (either fresh or salt) and light are combined in a photosynthetic reaction to produce sugars (Sucrose and Glucose). This natural sugar can be sold in either crystalline or syrup form, or alternatively used in the second stage of the Naturally Scientific process. This stage converts these sugars to produce pure vegetable oils (PVO) and their derivatives.”
We also looked at the company is “No Kill Farming“, where we asked: Does continuous harvest, and direct production from CO2 and water, offer a transformative, no-kill way to improve the carbon and dollar economics of biofuels? Can the dairy model work?
Naturally Scientific has constructed a demonstration plant in Nottingham, UK, that uses full-sized equipment that proves the technology, automated process control systems, yields and unit economics at a commercial scale.
The bottom line
We’re not sure which part of this announcement is more important — Naturally Scientific’s imminent expansion to the US, or the third and biggest deal to date for Sweetwater. READ MORE and MORE (Sweetwater)