Branded fermentation-ready feedstock

Proterro is developing a sustainable, inexpensive, geoflexible, fermentation-ready feedstock. A non-crop-based, noncellulosic sugar, Proterro sucrose can be used to produce a variety of commercial scale fuels and chemicals through standard industrial fermentation methods.

The company’s patent-pending biosynthetic process combines an engineered photosynthetic microorganism with an advanced high-density, modular solid-phase photobioreactor to provide a low-cost, fermentation-ready sucrose.

Proterro's clean sucrose is NOT derived from cellulosic biomass. Cellulosic sugars depend on an agricultural set of steps that Proterro avoids; they are made first in a constructive process that overshoots by building biomass that has a low-sugar content and, then, in a destructive process that removes toxins and isolates the desired sugars. These factors contribute to the high-capital and unit costs of cellulosic sugar.

Proterro sucrose, however, is solely made in a constructive manner. A sucrose molecule is built based on its elements, using a naturally occurring photosynthetic process.

Intellectual property

The technologies owned and developed by Proterro are protected within the framework of patent families designed to enable the company to defend itself from present and future competitors. The IP covers both the organism and the photobioreactor.

Co-inventor — Robert Turner, Ph.D.

Co-inventor of Proterro technology (with Proterro CTO John Aikens); is an expert in molecular engineering with 7+ years of biotech R&D management experience. Holds a doctorate in biochemistry from University of Illinois; was an NIH postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor Paul Schimmel at the Scripps Research Institute.

Applications

Proterro's sugar is a unique form of sucrose that can serve as a feedstock for biological and chemical processes for fuels or fine chemicals. The product can be used as delivered, concentrated by water removal or purified to a grade appropriate to a given application.


» Click to read how Proterro's sugar can be used in several applications.

Proterro, Inc. | 100 Princeton South Corporate Center, Suite 150, Ewing, NJ 08628 | E: info@proterro.com | Proterro is a trademark of Proterro, Inc.

Proterro understands the importance of protecting life and the environment, and will follow strict operational protocols to avoid release of genetically modified microorganisms, operating in full compliance with all applicable governmental regulations.