The U.S. Dept. of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office awarded ZymoChem a $4.0 million grant. The funding is in support of the DOE’s Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap, which seeks to decarbonize the nation’s industrial sector via emission reductions.
Since its founding in 2015, ZymoChem has used its patented technologies to replace petroleum-based ingredients in items used every day—from personal hygiene items to textiles and “without compromising cost, performance, scale, or sustainability,” according to Jon Kuchenreuther, PhD, ZymoChem’s co-founder and CSO, who added that this “collaboration showcases how ZymoChem’s technology can reimagine chemical manufacturing for the 21st century in a more efficient and environmentally sustainable manner.”
Four other organizations
ZymoChem was selected to a cohort of four other organizations nationwide based on its progress in scaling vital materials via fermentation and downstream purification operations. The results are high value materials derived from sugars that are low-cost, environmentally safe, high-performing, and biodegradable. The technology unlocks near term chemical commercialization with the potential for significant greenhouse gas reduction potential, noted Kuchenreuther.
“Decarbonizing the industrial sector is also crucial to equity goals,” the DOE noted in its press release of the grant funding. The DOE went on to share that supporting companies like ZymoChem is in line with the “DOE’s long-term objectives of advancing high-impact technologies that will create well-paying jobs, support underserved economies, and accelerate the growth of the U.S. bioeconomy.”
ZymoChem’s proprietary Carbon Conserving (C2) microbes convert renewable feedstocks into bio-based materials without compromising price, performance, scale, or sustainability, while radically minimizing CO2 loss during the production phase, according to a ZymoChem spokesperson.
