European Commissions taps DuPont for Biogas Enzyme Production grant
In the Netherlands, the European Commission awarded a grant to DuPont Industrial Biosciences to demonstrate high-efficiency enzyme production to increase biogas yields as part of the DEMETER project, funded from the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program. Enzyme technology has been proven to improve biogas yields and process robustness, ultimately increasing customers’ revenue and profitability while increasing offerings in renewable energy.
The DEMETER project is expected to demonstrate a yield increase and cost reduction in the production process for biogas enzymes, which can improve the economics of biogas production in Europe. DEMETER includes an entire value chain of biogas experts including: DuPont (enzymes), Miavit (biogas ingredients distributor), BioBase Europe (pilot plant), OWS (anaerobic digester expertise), DBFZ (biogas research centre), Ciaotech (economic and environmental evaluation), and Biomoer (biogas farm). The project is expected to be completed over the next three years.
The grant will be used to improve and scale-up the enzyme-producing fermentation process to reach a cost reduction of at least 15 percent and to demonstrate the efficiency of the enzymes in biogas field trials in Europe. Methane biogas is primarily used to generate electricity or is compressed and inserted into the pipeline gas grid.
DuPont has recently developed a new enzyme product, derived from Myceliophthora thermophila C1, that in recent field trials has shown a promising 10 percent cost-reduction in the production of biogas from organic waste.
Category: Research
