About This Project
Biochar production is a durable method of carbon sequestration deployed today, but scalability is limited by low profit margins. By utilizing the syngas waste stream as a microbial feedstock, products can be generated to increase the profit of biochar plants by >300%. We will genetically engineer an acetogen to convert syngas into value added animal feed and industrial chemical products, thus enabling an increase in biochar plant profitability and incentivizing biochar plant deployment.
Ask the Scientists
Join The DiscussionMotivating Factor
Biochar production is a scalable method of carbon sequestration deployed today, however, industry growth has been slow due to weak production economics. In the US, despite the opportunity to utilize 847M tons of biomass as biochar feedstock, <1M tons is currently used for this purpose (ref). This is a missed opportunity to sequester >420M tons of carbon as biochar, or an offset of nearly 7% of US industrial emissions (2022). Biochar does not qualify for US 45Q tax credits, however, products that utilize syngas containing carbon oxides do. Syngas generated via biochar production is currently emitted or burned for low value energy. By converting syngas into products instead, this waste stream is valorized both by direct sale of products and through tax credits, increasing net profits by >300%. This valorization incentivizes increased deployment of biochar plants in addition to producing low carbon products that can compete with carbon intensive petroleum-derived alternatives.
Specific Bottleneck
The economics of biochar do not incentivize mass deployment for carbon capture, and in fact, many biochar facilities today struggle to break even. At a biochar yield of 25% & $50/ton biomass, feedstock cost is $200/ton of biochar before CAPEX/OPEX. With variable market prices between $125-$300/ton for biochar, this is not an attractive market opportunity. Further valorization of one or more process streams in the biochar process is needed to incentivize and enable increased scale of deployment and sequestration impact.
Bio-based conversion of syngas has been limited to low value industrial chemical production such as acetate, ethanol, and acetone (eg, ref), and further, competitors in this space have yet to show economic viability of this approach at scale. Our approach solves for the lack of economic viability of syngas conversion by developing acetogenic strains co-producing high value molecules in addition to acetate.
Actionable Goals
Show technical capability to execute: Demonstrate that a model acetogenic host can be stably genetically engineered through the application of modern strain engineering technologies
Show technical viability of approach: Demonstrate biological production of two or more commercially relevant high value molecules that have market values of >$5 per kilogram on both model syngas and sugar feedstocks
Define technical starting point for next stage: Determine carbon to biomolecule yield rates (anaerobic) on modeled syngas feedstock (>40% conversion required for economic viability)
Budget
We are still a fledgling start-up with no money raised to date. This funding will enable us to complete the work necessary to establish the validity of our technical approach to support a subsequent fundraise. The lab work is intensive in nature, so both salaried hours and professional lab space are required to pursue it - notably the need for permits and safe operating conditions to work with anaerobic organisms and mixed carbon oxide gases containing hydrogen. While we have managed to secure donated equipment from our network to the tune of approximately $100k, we still need to acquire (used) equipment to enable the molecular biology work, as well as the extensive consumables this type of work requires. The shared lab space we are targeting does provide common lab equipment, but some special items will be required: notably off-gas units to assess the carbon balance, a spectrophotometer for carotenoid analysis, and pipettes.
Meet the Team
Pip Reeder
Chemical and Biological Engineering undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley with a focus in biotechnology, followed by a PhD in the same at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with Prof. Jon Dordick (CBE) and Prof. Chris Bystroff (Biology) with a focus on computational protein engineering (ref). During PhD, was exposed to every part of the research process from in silico protein design, to strain design and engineering, strain build and testing, scale up for material generation, protein purification, as well as numerous analytical methods. Went on to the University of Colorado, Boulder and the lab of Prof. Ryan Gill where the focus was genomic scale library screening method development and testing (ref). Performed library screening assays and analysis including genomic library screening selection design, DNA gene chip analysis, strain re-generation, and analysis. Entered industry as a microbial strain engineer at Qteros, where the focus was Clostridial genetic toolbox development in support of ethanol production from C. phytofermentans grown on lignocellulosic biomass (ref). Trained on ClosTron at the University of Nottingham during a 2 week program. Transitioned to fermentation process development as a result of changing business needs, and have spent the following 15 years in positions of increasing levels of responsibility in the startup arena focused on bioprocess development. Most recent role at Robigo was at the VP level with responsibility for the operation of four functional teams as the head of R&D. Many years experience building and growing teams in the startup arena, including 8 novel-biotechnology startups. Experience scaling bioprocess-based technology both internally and at contract manufacturing sites up to 35,000L scale, including cost modeling, project management, and lab buildout. Passionate about people and teams, building a positive and engaging work culture, and executing on ambitious technical challenges with limited resources (startup life).
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