Sustainable technology for engineered oils from agricultural byproducts

September 10, 2020 – Each year, the roughly 200 industrial ethanol plants in the U.S. collectively produce about 30 million metric tons (m.t.) of low-value waste stream called stillage containing water-soluble organics and corn fiber residues. Disposing of stillage is problematic. However, Xylome, a small business based in Madison, WI, has developed a way to use the waste stream as a consistent, stable feedstock for conversion to valuable products. The company has genetically engineered a novel yeast to enable this transformation.

Find a brief description of the technology in the American Institute for Chemical Engineering (AIChE) August Issue – now on line