50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy candidate profiles: Qteros

Qteros website
Based in: Massachusetts
2008-09 ranking: #15

Business: Developer of a “one-step” process for conversion of cellulosic biomass to ethanol. The company’s signature IP is the “Q Microbe”, a species of clostridium, which is a naturally-discovered (but subsequently enhanced) consolidated bioprocessor that consumes (pre-treated) biomass, converts to simple sugars and then converts into ethanol.

Model: Licensing. The company is constructing a pilot plant as a demonstration of its technology, but plans to license on a royalty basis thereafter. Capacity of the pilot is currently secret, but is in the “thousands of liters”.

Past milestones:

1. Strain development.

2. Achieving a 70 gram per liter – 7 percent concentrations of ethanol by weight (9 percent by volume) – naturally, clostridia tend to achieve 2-3 percent concentrations, causing distillation costs to soar – while other leading cellulosic ethanol developers have as yet reached 5 percent.

3. Raising $25 million+ from Valero, BP, Venrock, Battery Ventures and Soros Fund Management.

Future milestones:

1. Look for its pilot plant to open in 2010 in Solutia, MA. The company is “well aligned” with the emerging timelines for cellulosic ethanol producers that would be candidate licensees of the Qteros system.

2. Look for expansion to Brazil – bagasse is a natural for cellulosic ethanol production – they are already collected in the cane harvest process – as opposed to agricultural residues that have to be collected.

3. Transfer work to other feedstocks – utilization based on geography.

Metrics: Q Microbe saves 30 percent on the cost of cellulosic conversion compared to 5 percent concentration. The process realizes 100 gallons of ethanol per ton of corn stalks,

Qteros quotable quotes: “What we’re really making is cheap sugars. Once you have that you have compounds that are identical to precursors for many useful products. ” – Kevin Gray, CTO

“Qteros will not need fossil fuel inputs for fertilizer or distillation of the ethanol because the lignin portion of the plant material (about 1/3 of most plants) will be burned to generate the heat necessary to refine the ethanol. There will also be leftover green electricity created.” – Jef Sharpe, EVP

The Hot 50 for 2009-10 will be released Tuesday, 12/1. Between now and then, you’ll see profiles of potential candidates in the Digest, and you’ll have a chance to vote for your favorites. Reader response will count for 50 percent of a company’s overall score in the preparation of the rankings. The remaining 50 percent is voted by a panel of experts.

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50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy candidate profiles: Qteros

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