Disruptive Technology for Carbon Negative Commodity Biochemicals
Technology Description:
Stanford University is developing a commercially attractive, scalable, carbon-negative technology for producing commodity biochemicals. Glucose, carbon dioxide (CO2), and electricity will provide the required atoms and energy for carbon-negative, energy-positive production. Instead of releasing CO2 into the atmosphere, this new approach will enable use of atmospheric CO2 and glucose obtained from cornstarch to produce renewable fuels and chemicals. The benchmark product will be succinic acid, an established bioproduct with applications in alkyd resins, plasticizers, metal treatment chemicals, and coatings with significant market expansion potential. The technology can easily be adapted to produce a broad range of other biochemical products as well. The new technology introduces a biosynthesis platform that increases process yield, conversion rate, and energy efficiency to encourage investment in distributed production facilities located in rural communities.
Potential Impact:
The application of biology to sustainable uses of waste carbon resources for the generation of energy, intermediates, and final products---i.e., supplanting the “bioeconomy”—provides economic, environmental, social, and national security benefits and offers a promising means of carbon management.