C5 yeast technology

Nedalco has developed new yeasts that are capable of fermenting the pentose or C5 sugars xylose and arabinose into ethanol. The two sugars are abundantly available in non-food biomass and are not consumed by standard yeast used in the ethanol industry today. The C5 sugar fermenting feature will be a great asset to any party that strives to make cellulosic ethanol happen. It is Nedalco’s aim to bring these new C5 sugar-fermenting yeasts to the market to allow maximum ethanol production from non-food biomass.

The new yeasts can be applied for ethanol production from current agricultural waste streams to abundant grasses and dedicated energy crops when harvested and available in the future. Recently the ethanol industry is subject to unfavorable market conditions. It is constantly aiming to improve the profitability of running operations. Immediate relief, e.g. optimized yield from feedstocks consequently is a near-term goal.

Corn fiber and wheat bran are agricultural waste streams not used for food purposes. They are available at plants in the USA and Europe now and can be turned into ethanol with limited resources required in terms of capital investment. Nedalco’s proprietary C5 fermenting-yeast technology will make capitalization on these feedstocks happen in the near future.