Gevo Granted Critical Patent Enabling Commercially Viable Yields of Isobutanol Production from Yeast
10-Apr-2012
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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - Gevo, Inc., a leading renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company, announced today in a press release that the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted US Patent No. 8,153,415 (‘415 Patent) entitled “Reduced By-Product Accumulation for Improved Production of Isobutanol.”
The ‘415 Patent covers technology which eliminates two pathways that compete for isobutanol pathway intermediates in yeast. The claimed modifications helped Gevo create a more efficient isobutanol-producing yeast.
“Our patented yeast is encouraged to produce greater yields of isobutanol,” said Brett Lund, EVP & General Counsel of Gevo. “Our scientists proved that by successfully eliminating unwanted, competing enzymatic pathways, we could redesign an isobutanol-producing yeast to be more efficient.”
Gevo also announced it has filed a lawsuit against Butamax™ Advanced Biofuels, LLC (Butamax) and its affiliate E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. Butamax has publicly disclosed its use of Gevo’s claimed technology in several later-filed patent applications, including WO/2011/159853, paragraph 0265, and WO/2011/159998, paragraph 0226.
“We understand that Butamax has attempted to reach commercial-scale production of isobutanol for several years,” said Lund. “To produce commercially relevant levels of isobutanol however, one must use the technology covered by our ‘415 Patent. As this patent illustrates, our scientists realized the importance of eliminating these pathways before our competitors. This pioneering discovery has been instrumental in helping us start the world’s first commercial-scale, renewable isobutanol operation by this summer.”