Syngenta to trial third generation biofuel crop that grows its own bioconversion enzyme

Syngenta, the Swiss seeds and crop protection group, has made a technological breakthrough that could significantly improve the economics of biofuels by streamlining the way corn is converted into ethanol. Michael Pragnell, chief executive, says the company has developed a corn seed that incorporates a key enzyme used to produce ethanol.

The corn amylase enzyme has received US Food and Drug Administration approval for bulk trials after pilot projects showed it could eliminate the need for the enzyme to be added separately in making ethanol.

In short, Syngenta's crop grows its own bioconversion enzymes (schematic, click to enlarge). This is an example of 'third generation' crops and biofuel processes. Earlier, researchers at the University of Michigan achieved a similar feat by embedding cellulase enzymes into corn (previous post).

Syngenta, however, is the first to actually trial the new biofuel crop.

What we've done is to grow the enzyme in the corn. That will accelerate manufacturing by removing the need for enzyme deliveries to biofuel plants. We are now in our first month of bulk trials. - Michael Pragnell, CEO Syngenta

The company says it would take about nine months for tests to prove the seed performed to expectations and the company hoped to have a product on the market for the 2009 growing season.

John Urbanchuk, an agricultural economist with the LECG consulting group, said that when you look at what's happening to world oil prices because of supply and demand, and at increasing environmental concerns, biofuels offer immense potential. This new technology will make the production process much more efficient.

Bulk trials will focus on ensuring the seed has at least similar yields to existing varieties and can function across the range of ethanol production processes:
energy :: sustainability :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: ethanol :: corn :: enzyme :: bioconversion :: biotechnology ::

Other seed and chemical groups, including Monsanto and Du Pont, have been pursuing ways to streamline ethanol production, but Syngenta is the first to win FDA approval.

So far, all the pilot trials have shown a positive yield increase. The seed has been developed using genetic and conventional hybridisation techniques in a process described as "precision hybridisation".

Syngenta is already looking beyond its new seed to scientific advances that could revolutionise biofuel economics further

About 35 per cent of each year's corn harvest is wasted as so-called corn stover. The real holy grail is to identify an enzyme that can convert the waste from the corn crop.

Syngenta calls the "real prize" the development of an enzyme that could also be grown in the crop and that would allow us to convert all that waste into ethanol.

This is where Syngenta faces competition from synthetic biology company Agrivida, which is precisely designing a crop that already contains its own bioconversion enzymes capable of degrading the entire biomass of plant material, including the lignocellulose, into small sugars that can then be readily converted to cellulosic ethanol (more here).

References:
Checkbiotech: Syngenta in biofuels breakthrough - November 12, 2007.

Biopact: Third generation biofuels: scientists patent corn variety with embedded cellulase enzymes - May 05, 2007

Biopact: Agrivida and Codon Devices to partner on third-generation biofuels - August 03, 2007