News

May 13, 2008

By Using Biomass As Feedstock, TMO Renewables Is Making Ethanol Production Even Greener

By Rue Swabey

Recent food price increases have served to stoke further the debate about the benefits of biofuels. Ethanol, which is the principal alternative fuel to gasoline, is under particular scrutiny as it is produced by fermenting sugar. Critics of the fuel argue that the use of food crops such as corn or cane sugar to produce ethanol is contributing to recent increases in the costs of foodstuffs. Another argument is that ethanol production is so energy intensive in terms of ploughing, the use of fertiliser and in its processing, that its green benefits are negated.

UK-based TMO Renewables is a privately owned ethanol technology company which owns intellectual property that could revolutionise ethanol production by using low value biomass waste. This waste biomass is abundant, as the residue from many food crops is between 100 and 150 per cent of the edible yield. TMO’s technological platform uses a group of thermophillic micro-organisms - thermophiles - to ferment sugars. Thermophiles live and multiply at high temperatures and digest a wide range of...