From time to time, Zymetis announces new developments and publishes positions on issues that are important to its stakeholders. Please check back regularly to learn more about Zymetis, and how its technology is an important component of any discussion on sustainable energy.
Zymetis Meets With Chu
The Department of Energy certainly has its hands full. An aggressive agenda to identify and drive new technology development, coupled with having to administer huge budgets, has created a host of major challenges. At the center of it all is DOE Secretary Dr. Steven Chu. “By moving to clean energy sources that are homegrown and homemade,” says Chu, “we can create good jobs and grow the economy, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and prevent the worst effects of climate change.” Recently, Zymetis CEO, Scott Laughlin, had the pleasure of meeting with Secretary Chu to discuss these...
Easy-To-Digest Enzyme Costs
Naureen S. Malik of Dow Jones writes:
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)—As the pursuit of biofuels not sourced from food crops intensifies, attention has zoomed in on small but consequential players: enzymes. These protein molecules are pivotal in the process that breaks down plant cells in order to extract sugars that later ferment into ethanol, a fuel that’s blended into gasoline across many parts of the U.S. While enzymes used to convert corn into ethanol are commonplace and relatively cheap, more powerful ones are needed to tap into the energy stored in corn stalks and other “cellulosic”...Continue Reading »
DOE Awards SBIR to Zymetis
Zymetis announced today that it has received its first Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the Department of Energy. The $100,000 award will fund Zymetis work on Optimal Substrate-Specific Hemicellulase Enzyme Mixtures.
One advantage of Zymetis technology is that its enzyme mixtures are derived from a single organism. The organism has an arsenal of almost 90 different plant digesting enzymes capable of reducing practically any plant-based biomass into its constituent sugars. Because they are produced by one organism, each enzyme works perfectly together to acheive more...
Continue Reading »Zymetis Named Company to Watch
Zymetis announced today that TechJournal South, the business publication of the southeast’s new economy, named Zymetis a Top 50 company to watch in 2009. The awards are given to companies that present the most promise to bring economic growth and high-tech jobs to Southeastern states. The Journal covers developments from Maryland to Florida.
“Maryland is a wonderful place to launch a biotechnology company,” said Zymetis CEO Scott Laughlin. “We’re pleased to be recognized outside the state by our peers as a leader in industrial biotechnology innovation.”
TechJournal South seeks to...
Continue Reading »Zymetis Files 10th International Patent
While the company was founded on four issued patents licenced from the University of Maryland, Zymetis has not left its future up to that body of IP alone. Over the last two years, the company, in partnership with Intellectual Property counsel Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC, has filed several patents designed to expand and protect Zymetis’ investment in research and development. Recently, the company filed its 10th such patent to cover aspects of the use of its technologies in industrial processes. With this filing, the company now has patents pending on several novel...
Continue Reading »Zymetis Named Top 50 Company
Zymetis today announced that it was named to the 2009 GoingGreen East 50 Top Company List. The GoingGreen East 50 Award is given to private, emerging companies creating new green technology businesses. Zymetis was selected by the AlwaysOn editorial team and KPMG, based on demonstration of growth, market opportunity, quality of innovation and customer traction.
“We are excited and flattered,” says Scott Laughlin, CEO of Zymetis. “We are just coming out of our stealth development phase. To be placed alongside companies that have already raised tens of millions of investment dollars,...
Continue Reading »Biofuels Pay Big Dividend
One question we’ve been asked a lot lately is: “haven’t lower oil prices reduced the interest in your technology?” It’s a fair question, but a bit misguided. While short-term declines in oil prices are driving down the cost of gasoline, today’s price does not reflect the long-term realities of the petroleum market. The big picture is framed not by today’s cost of oil, but rather by some irrefutable fundamentals that will drive the pace and value of renewable energy technologies for the rest of the century.
First, any way you slice it, petroleum is NOT a renewable source...
Continue Reading »Seeing the Forest for the Trees in Biofuel Development
The advantages of cellulosic ethanol could be huge. According to the Policy Forum piece in the journal Science, ”Sustainable Biofuels Redux,” “The cultivation of cellulosic crops has the potential to promote soil carbon sequestration, reduce nitrous oxide emissions, provide to ecosystems in the surrounding landscape biodiversity-based services such as pollination and pest suppression, and afford much higher rates of return than grain-based systems.” The 23 author piece provides a fact-based analysis of the benefits and consequences of developing a biofuel economy.
Zymetis is working hard...
Continue Reading »Founder to Address Policy Makers
Dr. Steve Hutcheson, Founder and CTO of Zymetis, has accepted an invitation to speak at the Kathryn Fuller Symposium on Biofuels. The symposium, being held November 19-20, 2008 in Washington, DC, is designed for policy makers to address questions about biofuels and their impact on biodiversity, the environment, food supply, social well-being, and prosperity. Dr. Hutcheson will provide his perspective on the opportunities biofuels present to reduce the carbon footprint of vehicles we humans use to transport ourselves and our things.
The Symposium is hosted by the World Wildlife Fund, an...
Continue Reading »CEO to Speak on Biofuels
Scott Laughlin, CEO of Zymetis, will be one of four panelists on the Biofuels sector at the 5th Annual Emerging Growth Conference. Mr. Laughlin will share his views on the market drivers, trends, and political landscape of the emerging biofuels market with as many as 400 fellow CEOs, as well as private and public equity investors. The Emerging Growth Conference is hosted by America’s Growth Capital (ACG), a national, emerging growth focused research, trading and investment banking firm. The discussion about Biofuels will open the conference.
The Panel will be moderated by ACG’s Zack...
Continue Reading »Senate’s Fuel Crop: Straw
You know a debate lacks substance when both sides are reduced to offering up straw men! In a recent Senate Agricultural Committee hearing on the food-versus-fuel debate, Sen. Ben Nelson’s (D-Neb) provided this witty sound bite:
Funny, yes. But more important, the comment serves to highlight the lack of anything positive that can come from the food-for-fuel debate at this point. Instead of making more hay out of...
Continue Reading »A New Manhattan Project?
Robert McFarlane and George Philippidises’ recent op-ed “How Free Trade Can Help Solve the Energy Crisis” presents a compelling argument for ethanol’s ability to fill out America’s energy supply portfolio with a sustainable alternative to fossil fuel. We heartily embrace the support, and appreciate the honest and fact based promotion of ethanol and emerging cellulosic ethanol production technology.
In the article, the two point out that the mandate for renewable energy development is woefully underfunded. According to the piece:
“The U.S. should treat the commercialization of...
No Corn in our Ethanol
Kate Galbraith’s recent article, “In Gas-Powered World, Ethanol Stirs Complaints,” reports on the frightening misperception about ethanol among American consumers. And frightening it is! Consider the following: Ms. Galbraith actually found gas stations seeking to attract customers with banners that read “No corn in our gas.”
While we hope it’s not working, we’re concerned that, in the current environment, it just might. If people are so passionate about the issue of food-for-fuel to chose their gas station over it, however, perhaps there’s a silver lining: once cellulosic...
Continue Reading »Zymetis Joins BIO!
Today, Zymetis announced that has it joined BIO—the Biotechnology Industry Organization—as a full member. Zymetis will participate in BIO’s “Industry & Environmental” section and focus its work within BIO on issues facing the emerging next-generation biorefining industry.
“We’re excited about our BIO membership and everything BIO is doing to advance the understanding of our industry,” said Zymetis CEO, Scott Laughlin. “We’re particularly excited about the work they’re doing to educate policy makers and the public at large about the benefits of supporting biotech approaches to producing...
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