Shell, Codexis Collaborate to Expedite Next Generation Biofuel

Royal Dutch Shell plc and Codexis, Inc. have announced an expanded agreement to develop better enzymes that could speed up the commercialization of next generation biofuels.

The agreement will have Codexis working closely with Shell and Iogen Energy Corp. to enhance the efficiency of enzymes used in the Iogen cellulosic ethanol production process. The Iogen demo plant, located in Ottawa, Canada, produces hundreds of thousands of liters of cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residue like wheat straw. The technology used by Iogen uses enzymes to break down the cellulose in agricultural fiber, converting the cellulose to sugars which are fermented and distilled into ethanol.

"The expert Codexis team will make a real difference in the race toward full-scale commercial production of biofuel from non-food sources," said Graeme Sweeney, Shell Executive Vice President, Future Fuels and CO2. "Better enzymes will improve efficiency and help lower costs."   

"In just over two years, our biofuels collaboration with Shell has grown from a pilot project to a significant multifaceted program to create commercial-scale biofuels from non-food sources," said Alan Shaw, Ph.D, Codexis President and CEO.  "Codexis has complemented its advanced directed evolution platform with world class technologies ranging from systems biology to large scale enzyme production.