Technology and engineering solutions provider for bio-fuels and biochemicals production, Praj Industries Limited and US-based Qteros Inc., have inked a partnership to accelerate commercialization efforts for industrial-scale cellulosic ethanol production. Qteros is a leading developer Consolidated Bioprocessing (CBP) platform for the lowest cost production of cellulosic ethanol.
According to Pramod Chaudhari, founder and executive chairman, Praj Industries Ltd., and chairman, Praj Group, the agreement leverages both Qteros' patent protected CBP platform with Praj's research technology, process design, engineering and construction expertise to deliver fully integrated engineering design packages for the lowest cost production of ethanol from a broad variety of non-food based feedstocks.
"An optimised and streamlined consolidated bio-processing platform offers the potential to provide important production cost efficiencies and economic returns to global ethanol producers," said Chaudhari.
Praj and Qteros will collaborate on a highly focused, multi-year development program with the objective of rapidly developing and commercializing Process Design Packages (PDPs) that enable cellulosic ethanol production using Qteros’ Q Microbe enabled CBP platform and Praj’s technology and expertise in the conversion of biomass to ethanol.
"Praj has achieved significant milestones in second generation, cellulosic ethanol technology development. We have also evaluated the complete market landscape for cellulosic ethanol conversion technologies and we believe Qteros’ CBP platform potentially offers the most advanced technology solution to enable the lowest cost production of cellulosic ethanol across a broad array of important non-food based feedstocks. Building on its experience of installing ethanol plants in over 50 countries, Praj will bring an integrated approach to the partnership in the second generation bio-ethanol space," Chaudhary added.
Initially, the companies will focus their efforts on developing PDPs for feedstocks that include sugarcane, corn and wheat residuals with the goal of achieving commercial-readiness by the end of 2012.
Commenting on the tie-up, John A. McCarthy, junior president and chief executive officer, Qteros said, "Praj and Qteros bring together highly complementary skill sets and core competencies which we expect will catalyze our ability to develop the industry’s low cost solution – both from an operating and capital perspective – for large-scale cellulosic ethanol production. Achieving our combined objective will then provide the industry with a much-needed accelerant for worldwide growth and will also enable our two companies to establish leadership roles in this rapidly evolving global market. We look forward to making our shared vision with Praj a commercial reality within the next 18-24 months."
Based on the achievement of certain development and commercialization milestones, Qteros and Praj may elect to broaden the partnership to incorporate additional feedstocks, and potentially other biochemical products to be derived from Qteros’ microorganism-based platform.
