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Plant Expression of Cellulase for Biomass Ethanol Production
Phone: (703) 961-8700
Email: blaylock@edenspace.com
Title: President
Phone: (785) 539-3185
Email: ferguson@edenspace.com
"Edenspace Systems Corporation seeks to achieve a substantial decrease in the
production costs of cellulosic ethanol biofuel by engineering a promising biofuel
crop, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), with up to three different genes that
produce cellulases. When activated by heat, these enzymes break down
biomass cellulose into simple sugars that can serve as biofuel feedstocks.
Microbially-produced cellulases currently used to produce ethanol from corn and
other biomass cost more than $0.45 per gallon of ethanol produced. With
successful completion of this project to produce the cellulases in switchgrass
biomass, this cost can be drastically reduced to the current goal of $0.10 per
gallon or perhaps eliminated, with further cost savings from simplified ethanol
production operations. Switchgrass, a versatile, perennial, high-biomass grass,
provides significant environmental benefits with respect to maintaining soil quality
and sequestering carbon while providing feedstocks for biomass based fuels.
In Phase I, an existing accession of switchgrass transformed with the
Acidothermus cellulolyticus E1 endoglucanase gene will be tested for biomass
production and composition, cellulase activity, and enzymatic stability with
respect to ethanol production from plant biomass. Switchgrass will be engineered
with additional cellulase genes for testing in Phase II. Successful completion of
this project will provide substantial cost benefits for the production of ethanol and
other biomass feedstocks. In addition, growing enhanced switchgrass for biofuels
could provide new income potential for farmers, particularly those participating in
the Conservation Reserve Program."
* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *