8:50am Thursday 15th July 2010
By Margaret Henry
It is not often that a 25-strong Oxfordshire business can genuinely claim to be a technology leader in a global industry, and making a significant contribution towards a lower carbon economy.
However, it is possible to talk about Green Biologics in that way. The company offers unique fermentation technology based on advanced microbial techniques, and it serves international markets, with partners in China, India, Brazil and the USA.
And the difference Green Biologics makes is in enabling customers to substitute a little known but ubiquitous product — butanol — with an equivalent made from by-product and waste agricultural sources, rather than petroleum.
Chief executive Sean Sutcliffe is clear that good science lies behind this success, and that to do this Green Biologics has had to attract some of the best scientists from around the world.
Dr Liz Jenkinson, who leads the team focused on using advanced molecular techniques to enable Green Biologics’ microbes to be world beating, said: “The big benefit for me is the opportunity to work on complex scientific problems with interesting and experienced colleagues form a range of backgrounds.
“There is definitely a strong team spirit here. And it is particularly rewarding to see that my work can make a real difference to our customers,”
Green Biologics has just completed a £4.9m funding round, attracting investment from Oxford Capital Partners, The Carbon Trust and investors from Belgium and China.
This is allowing the company to commercialise its technology more rapidly in target markets, and expand the number of staff working on key technology challenges.
Mr Sutcliffe explained: “However environmentally-friendly our product is, it needs to be competitive with the alternatives. We currently offer fermentation technology which allows customers to produce biobutanol from agricultural by-product sources at a lower cost than the oil-based alternative for chemical use.
“Butanol ultimately finds its way into paints, plastics and other domestic products, so by switching from oil-based to bio-based butanol, chemical companies can save money, as well as reduce carbon.
“That is an exciting opportunity in itself. The even bigger win is when we can use waste products — straw, corn cobs, forestry waste —to produce butanol at a price that is cheaper than petrol, and more sustainable than the biofuels produced today.”
He added: “Developing that technology is where a large part of the money we have raised will go.
“All the building blocks are there to make cost-effective biobutanol for the fuel market from waste sources, so it’s a case of putting them together and working with industrial partners to turn it into reality.”
Interestingly, Mr Sutcliffe sees greater opportunities outside the UK than at home.
He said: “The truth of the matter is that other regions of the world have greater access to the waste streams we are focused on than are available the UK.
“So, whether it is corn cobs in China, rice husks in India, or sugar cane waste in Brazil, we need to develop the technology here and market to customers in these countries. And since we can help them produce at a lower cost than their competitors, while using waste materials, we find customers are keen to embrace this move to renewable products.
“In the future we do see significant opportunities in Europe, whether from sugar beet waste or municipal waste, but we can only address a limited number of opportunities at once.”
Mr Sutcliffe even sees a silver lining in the economic crisis, though it has been a difficult couple of years, with belt-tightening both in his company and for their customers.
He said: “That can also work to our advantage, since customers are saying: ‘if you have something that can reduce our costs we need it now.’ ”
As well as attracting funding to grow, Green Biologics has been widely recognised for its work, most recently when it was included in the Cleantech Connect 2009 Awards Top 30 List, a roll-call of Europe’s most promising and fastest growing clean tech companies.
Mr Sutcliffe is pleased by the accolades but is clear where the success of the company lies in the long-run.
“It’s the quality of our technology and therefore our ability to drive lower cost, renewable chemicals and biofuels which will determine the ultimate success of Green Biologics.
“We’ve got the best people to deliver this technology, and despite the cuts at home, see a wealth of opportunities around the world to deliver low carbon technologies.”
o Contact: Green Biologics, 01235 435701 Web: www.greenbiologics.com o This page is co-ordinated by Oxford Innovation www.oxin.co.uk
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