Distinctive Technological Approach

Many of the most important biorefining challenges and opportunities involve effective conversion of key plant components including hemicellulose (available from sources such as corn fiber, beet pulp, soy hulls, spent sulfite liquor), and cellulose (available from sources such as corn stover, bagasse, paper sludge, and dedicated energy crops such as miscanthus, energy cane, and switchgrass).  Enabled by recent advances in genetic engineering, Enchi Corp. starts with thermophilic microorganisms representative of nature’s best hemicellulose and cellulose fermenters, and develops strains that produce desired products well.  This may be contrasted to the dominant approach in the field to date, which is to start with yeast and other microbes that are good at producing products and engineer them to utilize cellulose and hemicellulose.  A growing body of research suggests that the Enchi 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.