Terragia Biofuel

Technology to drive the next generation of biofuels Terragia is focused on developing biological conversion systems based on engineered bacteria which convert non-food cellulosic biomass to fuels and chemicals. We seek to use thermophilic bacteria to process biomass without added enzymes and with little or no pretreatment. Terragia leverages years of research and unique technology to bring the world’s most economically feasible biofuels. Thermophilic bacteria and their enzymes have superior capability to solubilize lignocellulose as compared to industry-standard fungal cellulase. By taking full advantage of this capability combined with innovative processing strategies, Terragia foresees dramatic reduction in the cost of lignocellulose conversion using an approach we call “C-CBP.” Enabled by recent advances in genetic engineering, Terragia starts with thermophilic microorganisms representative of nature’s best hemicellulose and cellulose fermenters, and develops strains that produce desired products well. A growing body of research suggests that the Terragia approach has some substantial inherent advantages and is likely to be the most cost effective for some important applications. In particular, by taking advantage of the superior feedstock-utilizing capability of thermophiles, it is possible to envision biomass processing with no added enzymes and with little or no pretreatment, thus avoiding the two principle impediments to cost-effective processing today.