SilicoLife’s international patent application for biological production of n-butanol has been published.
SilicoLife announced that the company’s international (PCT) patent application for “Method for n-butanol production using heterologous expression of anaerobic pathways” was published on October 3, 2019, under publication number WO 2019/185843.
Butanol is a 4-carbon alcohol generally used as an industrial solvent with a growing market, valued over 5 billion euros annually. It is commonly produced from fossil material through pollutant processes and thus requiring more sustainable and greener production alternatives. Recent market studies suggested that due to the growing use of oxo alcohols as a solvent in paints and coatings, the worldwide demand for this type of chemicals, including n-butanol, is expected to steadily grow over the next decade.
BUTANOVA technology, developed as part of a collaboration between SilicoLife and the University of Minho, consists of a novel and proprietary metabolic pathway for the production of n-butanol resulting from Artificial Intelligence methodologies and experimentally validated. The new pathway starts from a non-previously reported precursor.
SilicoLife is currently in discussions with industrial players that can partner with the company in the further development of the technology and ensure its market access.