Drop-in biofuel opportunities reported from Aussie research breakthrough

Biofuels Digest
December 02, 2010 Jim Lane

In Australia, World Wide Carbon Credits Limited announced today that it has successfully lodged final patent applications over a gene that encodes an enzyme capable of producing a class of hydrocarbons known as triterpenoids, including di-hydro squalene, a hydrocarbon that is compatible with existing infrastructure including oil refineries. The research led by Professor Andy Ball, of Flinders University.

“The organism used to extract this gene is not at present economically significant,” said WWDC’s Dr. Steven Hensen. “By isolating this gene and inserting it into an alternative organism we have paved the way to substantially reduce the cost of producing oil from algae.”

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