Partnerships

French Pulp and Paper Consortium - A top-notch research consortium

Genencor has received government funding from France to participate in a research consortium with the French forestry industry to economically produce ethanol from paper pulp.

The research consortium includes Genencor and its partners: Tembec R&D Kraft, INSA Toulouse’s Laboratory for Biotechnology and Bioprocessing, and the University of Bordeaux’s Pine Institute. 

The Pine Institute serves as project leader and coordinator. The French National Research Program for Bioenergy provides half of the funding.

For this research program, Genencor is providing advanced cellulases and corresponding applications expertise to optimize the enzymatic hydrolysis  or breakdown of paper pulp provided by Tembec and the Pine Institute.

This 3-year pilot study is designed to establish the viability of an advanced cellulosic biorefinery to produce ethanol cost-effectively and efficiently. A successful pilot represents a critical step in adding an advanced biorefinery capacity to the paper pulp industry.

Success in this innovation will have broad impact in the movement toward large-scale fuel production from sustainable biomass sources rather than from finite fossil fuel reserves.

Leading the way towards second generation bioethanol advancement

NREL
In an unprecedented $17 million contract, we worked with the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to develop cellulase enzymes to convert low-value biomass to fermentable sugars and, ultimately, renewable ethanol fuel.

Mascoma
In another recent collaboration, we’ve moved into the second generation of renewable fuel development working with Mascoma of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Mascoma is building a $20 million facility to develop and produce cellulosic ethanol fuel from agricultural and forestry byproducts.

Genencor is providing advanced enzyme systems for the facility and will help improve the plant’s efficiency.