SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL; TSX:SOY) has signed a Joint Development Agreement with Royal Nedalco, based in the Netherlands, one of the largest ethanol suppliers in Europe.
Under this agreement, SunOpta will license Nedalco’s patented pentose fermenting yeast for the production of cellulosic ethanol in North America and will work with Nedalco to include SunOpta’s technology and systems for cellulosic ethanol production into their planned new grain ethanol facilities in Europe.
Nedalco, a subsidiary company of the Dutch sugar producer Cosun, has been producing ethanol in Europe for over 100 years and is a leader in ethanol fermentation technology. A consortium including Nedalco, Delft University of Technology and BIRD Engineering, all located in the Netherlands, have developed a patented and novel pentose fermenting yeast that is capable of high conversions of pentose sugars into cellulosic ethanol. Nedalco is adding ethanol capacity in the Netherlands and the U.K. including a 200 million litre grain ethanol plant that will produce road fuel. Nedalco plans to use their pentose fermenting yeast in this new facility.
According to the company, a significant challenge in producing cellulosic ethanol is the ability to ferment both hexose sugars (glucose) and pentose sugars (xylose), since pentose sugars can represent up to half of the available fermentable sugars in cellulosic biomass. The baker’s yeast that is used in starch ethanol plants cannot ferment xylose or other pentose sugars, but this new yeast is robust and can ferment both hexose and pentose sugars at high ethanol yields.
SunOpta intends to study the capability to produce fuel grade cellulosic ethanol using by-product streams high in hexose and pentose sugars from its U.S. fiber operations incorporating this new yeast.
Murray Burke, VP and General Manager of SunOpta’s BioProcess Group, commented that, “We are extremely pleased to be working with Nedalco and we are very impressed with their technical excellence and with their pentose fermenting yeast technology. We look forward to working with Nedalco to incorporate their technology and expertise with ours for the production of cellulosic ethanol in North America and Europe.”
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