EVRY, France (Nov. 30, 2011)—Two international biology companies have announced they will collaborate on a study on the feasibility of manufacturing isobutene, a key intermediate in the production of butyl rubber, from carbon monoxide.
Global Bioenergies S.A., based in Evry, is developing a process to convert renewable resources into hydrocarbons through fermentation. LanzaTech Ltd., a New Zealand firm, has developed a gas-liquid fermentation process that produces fuels and chemicals from gas resources.
According to the two companies, carbon monoxide is readily found in waste industrial gas streams at steel mills and other manufacturing facilities, or can be produced through the gasification of municipal waste or other organic substances.
The feasibility study, they said, will examine whether Global Bioenergies' artificial isobutene pathway is compatible with LanzaTech's carbon monoxide-consuming microbe in an effort to produce isobutene commercially.
The two companies did not provide a timetable for the study.