A novel metabolic pathway enables direct conversion of renewable resources to propylene

10-Oct-12

Global Bioenergies has demonstrated a novel metabolic pathway enabling the direct conversion of renewable resources to propylene. Propylene, mainly used to manufacture polypropylene is the second largest petrochemical by volume and currently represents a market of US$93 bln. Since there are no known natural pathways leading to propylene in microorganisms, creating a process for the direct bio-production of propylene required the design of an artificial metabolic pathway based on previously unknown enzymatic reactions and on novel metabolic intermediates. Philippe Marlière, co-founder and president of Global Bioenergies’ Scientific Advisory Board said: “Designing such an artificial metabolic pathway and experimentally identifying an enzyme candidate for each of the segments represented one of the main scientific and technological challenges in industrial biology.“ Several patent applications have been filed for which Global Bioenergies holds exclusive rights.