Attractive non-GMO yeast for the bioethanol industry

Research Project, 2014 – 2015

The purpose of this project is to develop yeast strains for lignocellulosic bioethanol production at commercial scale. We have found and succeeded in evolving a novel, non-genetically modified (non-GMO) yeast species that has the ability to efficiently produce ethanol from glucose and xylose, the two major sugars in lignocellulose. In this project we will study in detail the ability of this novel microorganism to a) produce ethanol under conditions required by the industry, b) tolerate inhibitory degradation products formed during the process, and c) break down and ferment complex sugars and thereby making ethanol production more cost effective. Our broad expertise and long experience in the field together with accessibility to state of the art equipment provides very good prerequisites for our project to lead to results of great importance for Swedish ethanol research and development.