{"id":230137,"date":"2017-01-13T15:56:55","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T17:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/?p=230137"},"modified":"2017-01-13T15:56:55","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T17:56:55","slug":"its-time-for-biotechnology-in-biomass-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/its-time-for-biotechnology-in-biomass-2\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time for biotechnology in biomass"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pereira,

L\u00c9O RAMOS<\/span><\/a> Pereira, standing at left, and the GranBio research and development team in Campinas. In the rear, bales of straw from sugarcaneL\u00c9O RAMOS<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Published in september 2015<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

After sugarcane is harvested, the remaining straw is the principal raw material GranBio uses in ethanol production. In September 2014, the company became the first in Brazil to produce cellulosic ethanol or second-generation (2G) ethanol, which is made from biomass by an industrial scale biotechnological process. Traditionally, first-generation ethanol fuel is produced from sugarcane juice. GranBio, an industrial biotechnology company founded in 2011 and headquartered in the capital city of S\u00e3o Paulo State, operates over the entire length of the supply chain. GranBio also pursues scientific and technological solutions for several components of the agricultural and industrial production system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Company<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
GranBio<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
R&D Center<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Campinas, S\u00e3o Paulo State<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
N\u00ba of Employees<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
18<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Main products<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Development of technology for ethanol production from the leaves and stalks of sugarcane<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The company has already made important technological strides, such as constructing genetically modified yeast and varieties of sugarcane aimed at producing 2G ethanol. The Bioflex 1 plant was set up in S\u00e3o Miguel dos Campos in the northeastern state of Alagoas next to the Caet\u00e9 Plant, which produces first-generation ethanol. GranBio obtains sugarcane straw from the Caet\u00e9 Plant and three other plants in the region. Cellulosic ethanol is produced experimentally in only a few commercial plants around the world. Two commercial plants in the United States use the stems and leaves of maize as a raw material, and one in Italy uses wheat leaves. In July 2015, the Brazilian energy company Ra\u00edzen opened a plant in the city of Piracicaba, S\u00e3o Paulo State that uses sugarcane bagasse and straw.<\/p>\n

GranBio\u2019s initial strategy was to import technology from abroad to speed up the production process. A number of ingredients were chosen, such as yeast from the Dutch company DSM and enzymes from the Danish company Novozymes. At the same time, GranBio set up a research and development (R&D) center in Campinas. \u201cWhat we do is convert science into technology,\u201d says Gon\u00e7alo Amarante Guimar\u00e3es Pereira, a GranBio partner and chief scientist at the company. At age 51, Pereira has been a professor at the Genomic and Expression Laboratory of the Institute of Biology of the University of Campinas (Unicamp) for 18 years. Most members of the research team he leads were recruited from the university. Currently, there are 18 researchers and technicians working directly on R & D: eight doctoral degree holders, two master\u2019s degree holders and four doctoral students.<\/p>\n

\"In

Granbio <\/span><\/a> In Pauliceia (S\u00e3o Paulo State), on the left, traditional sugarcane and, on the right, energy-sugarcaneGranbio <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Special yeast<\/strong>
\nThe team led by Pereira was responsible for two recently announced technological achievements. The first is the development of a yeast strain capable of processing xylose, the sugar present in hemicellulose, one of the three main types of fiber in sugarcane leaves and stems along with cellulose and lignin. \u201cIn the first generation, the industrial yeast strain (of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae<\/em> species) consumes the sucrose and fructose found in soluble form in sugarcane juice to produce ethanol; in bagasse, the sugars in the fibers of the leaves, such as xylose and pentose, are not soluble and so the yeast does not recognize them,\u201d says Pereira. To make yeast capable of processing xylose, the GranBio team developed a genetically modified strain with a gene from another microorganism\u2014which they prefer not to reveal\u2014and some modified genes of the Saccharomyces<\/em> species itself.<\/p>\n

The modified organism was approved for commercial use by the general coordination office of the National Biosecurity Commission (CTNBio) in April, and its use is the subject of a patent filed with the Brazilian Industrial Property Institute (INPI). \u201cWe will start using genetically modified yeast on the production line in 2016.\u201d The use of xylose, according to Pereira, produces a profit of approximately R$50 million annually for the company, which intends to process 400,000 metric tons of biomass per year. \u201cGlucose makes up 40% of this material, pentose approximately 35%, and xylose 25%, which translates into approximately 100 metric tons. For the second generation to be profitable, xylose and other sugars found in the straw and bagasse must be processed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sugarcane

L\u00e9o ramos <\/span><\/a> Sugarcane straw in the molecular biology laboratoryL\u00e9o ramos <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The yeast genetic engineering work was led by biologist Leandro Vieira dos Santos, 32. \u201cWe did a study to identify genes and combinations of genes that would induce Saccharomyces<\/em> to consume xylose,\u201d says Santos, who is working on a doctorate at Unicamp. Santos is a grad-uate of the Federal University of Vi\u00e7osa (UFV), where he received a master\u2019s degree in microbiology. After working for two years at the biotechnology company Agrogen\u00e9tica, he decided to pursue a doctorate focusing on yeast. He contacted Pereira in 2011, when the researcher was putting together the GranBio team. Today, with the yeast ready, Santos is working on perfecting it.<\/p>\n

The propagation of the microorganism and time scale are the work of biotechnology engineer Luige Calderon. He is originally from Peru, where he graduated from the Catholic University of Santa Maria in Arequipa. Calderon obtained a master\u2019s degree from Unicamp and, in 2012, was recruited to work as a researcher at GranBio in the bioprocess area. \u201cI select microorganisms using genetic and evolutionary engineering, and then develop, for example, the most appropriate means of cultivation,\u201d Calderon explains. Yeast genetics also drew Osmar de Carvalho Netto to the company. He has a degree in food science from the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP) and a doctorate from Unicamp. He participated in the sequencing of the Saccharomyces<\/em> genome at Unicamp and thought about forming an industrial yeast company with Santos. \u201cWe were going to be one of GranBio\u2019s suppliers, but they convinced us to join the company instead,\u201d he says. He became the company\u2019s process coordinator for areas such as fermentation, hydrolysis and pretreatment of biomass. He was also assigned to bridge the gap between research and corporate areas. \u201cIt had to be someone who understands the language of scientists and I now spend half my time on this. The other half is spent on process coordination,\u201d he says. For example, he is involved in organizing tests, delivering materials and staying in touch with the plant, all which is conducted so that GranBio\u2019s researchers can concentrate on research.<\/p>\n

\"Sugarcane

L\u00e9o ramos <\/span><\/a> Sugarcane samples in the analytical chemistry laboratoryL\u00e9o ramos <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Back to the beginning<\/strong>
\nIn addition to yeast, another GranBio innovation was the energy-sugarcane introduced in August. This sugarcane is a new non-transgenic variety developed with traditional crosses between several other cultivars in collaboration with the University Network for the Development of the Sugar-Energy Sector (Ridesa) of Alagoas and the Campinas Institute of Agronomy (IAC). \u201cWe went back to the beginning of sugarcane breeding. Instead of increasing sugar in the juice, we boosted the amount of fiber in the plant. And so we have a more rustic sugarcane. It is taller, has harvest longevity, flowers less and is more disease-resistant as well as being harder,\u201d says Jos\u00e9 Bressiani, an agronomist and the company\u2019s agricultural director. Along with undergraduate, master\u2019s and doctoral degrees in breeding from USP, Bressiani gained experience in producing sugarcane cultivars during his 15 years working at the Sugarcane Technology Center (CTC) and five years at Canavialis, part of the Monsanto group. \u201cMy job is to think about the biomass function for sugarcane plants. We are creating a plant that should have low production costs,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Tests with energy-sugarcane, which bears the trade name Cana Vertix, are taking place in the Southeast, Northeast and Central-West of Brazil. The idea is that, in the future, specific sugarcane varieties will be used only to produce 2G ethanol and to generate electric energy by burning waste. Initially, only the straw of Cana Vertix will be used. After mechanical harvesting of the sugarcane, the straw is left behind on top of the soil. It dries after a few days, after which it is either collected and transported to the 2G plant or stockpiled for several months.<\/p>\n

\"Ethanol

L\u00e9o ramos <\/span><\/a> Ethanol test in a biochemical analyzerL\u00e9o ramos <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Technological advances and the growth of GranBio increased the importance of the R & D center, which is now a subsidiary known as BioCelere. The formation of BioCelere began in March of 2010 with a conversation between Pereira, Bernardo Gradin, president of GranBio, and Alan Hiltner, executive vice president of GranBio. Gradin was stepping down as president of Braskem and wanted to invest in biotechnology and 2G ethanol. \u201cWe were at a restaurant and on the back of the check I outlined what the future GranBio could do in the scientific field. He liked it and then invited me to be one of the partners,\u201d says Pereira. The two had met before\u2014they served together in the Army in Bahia. They were reunited in 2007 when Pereira coordinated a project between Unicamp and Braskem on renewable propylene (raw material for the production of plastics) made with sugarcane for the Partnership for Technological Innovation (PITE) of FAPESP. GranBio\u2019s investment has already reached $265 million for a production capacity of 82 million liters per year. As of August 2015, ethanol production had reached a total of 3 million liters. It was not as high as we had hoped because some industrial processes needed improvement. \u201cBut we have already found solutions and are going to implement them in early 2016,\u201d says Pereira.<\/p>\n

\"070-073_GranBio_235-02\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GranBio invests in R&D to meet the challenges of producing ethanol","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[169],"tags":[212],"coauthors":[97],"class_list":["post-230137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-biotechnology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230137"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=230137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}