Another Cambridge firm is making a major contribution to the fight to overcome global dependence on fossil fuels following PDX platform developer, Pursuit Dynamics' announcement of a 14 per cent increase in bioethanol yield in the Phase 3 trial of its biofuels programme.
The Huntingdon-based firm said that the application of its PDX reactor technology to the production of bioethanol had achieved a 14 per cent increase in yield, along with a reduction in fermentation and liquefaction times.
"These are excellent results that have conclusively proved the advantages of the PDX reactor technology in bioethanol production and the commercial viability of our system," said Pursuit's CEO, John Heathcote.
"The reduction in fermentation and liquefaction times came as a pleasant surprise and will also provide existing ethanol plants with the opportunity to increase throughput at a much lower cost than is currently available."
Pursuit said that the PDX bioethanol system, similar to the design that will shortly be commercialisedin another application, was tested in an independent pilot facility in the US Midwest in order to confirm that the yield improvements indicated during an in-house trial could be replicated in the full ethanol manufacturing process, under the supervision of a third party.
The company said that the testing of the system validates the commercialisation of the PDX platform in the bioethanol industry, which is planned for the near future, although no dates were specified.
"We are continuing to move towards a commercial installation of the PDX bioethanol system and look forward to issuing an update in due course," said Heathcote.
The trials were also designed to confirm the energy requirements and reduction in enzyme usage of the PDX technology, and to investigate the downstream impact of feedstock treated by the PDX reactors.
Along with the increase in yield, the trials also showed a 50 per cent reduction in enzyme usage during the process, along with a 20 per cent reduction in fermentation time.
Pursuit commenced an intensive research programme into the possibility of enhancing ethanol yields in starch to ethanol fermentation reactions by using modified PDX reactors in 2006.
The firm has committed considerable assets to the project, which has seen 10 staff working full time and generated 500 individual trial runs, during which 3,500 samples were taken for analysis.
Pursuit said that the trials represent the most extensive ethanol yield enhancement research programme undertaken in Europe to date.
Shares in the firm have grown by almost five per cent, or over 9p to 211p.
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