 |
|
  |
Worldwide demand for petroleum products is insatiable. In the United States alone, there are 200,000 miles of pipeline, 170,000 fueling stations, and 243 million registered vehicles - all optimized for petroleum-based transportation fuels. These powerful network effects reinforce the dominance of hydrocarbon fuels and necessitate second-generation biofuels that are compatible with this existing distribution and consumer infrastructure.
LS9 DesignerBiofuels™ products are a family of fuels produced by specially-engineered microbes created via industrial synthetic biology. Starting from raw, natural sources of sugar such as sugar cane and cellulosic biomass, these renewable fuels will fundamentally change the biofuels landscape and set the stage for widespread product adoption and petroleum displacement. LS9 hydrocarbon biofuels have higher energetic content than ethanol or butanol and have fuel properties that are essentially indistinguishable from those of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.
LS9's technology provides a means to genetically control the structure and function of its fuels, enabling a product portfolio that meets the diverse demands of the petroleum economy. LS9 DesignerBiofuels™ products overcome a number of key challenges associated with first-generation biofuels, including infrastructure compatibility, product diversity, product economics, and quality consistency. LS9 products can go directly into vehicles or be further processed at a refinery. The products are designed to be cost-competitive with traditional petroleum products - without subsidies - and be commercially available within a few years.
Based on a highly efficient production method, LS9 products offer increased environmental benefits over production and refinement of crude oil and ethanol. LS9 DesignerBiofuels™ products approach carbon neutrality, with an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide consumed by the plant-based feedstocks as are generated from combustion of the fuels. In addition, LS9 products contain no carcinogens like benzene (commonly found in petroleum) and only trace amounts of sulfur.