c5 chemistry platform for value creation from non-food ... · olga selifonova (ceo), sergey...

C5 Chemistry Platform for Value Creation from Non-Food Agricultural Biomass

Olga Selifonova, Reluceo Holdings LLC

BIO World Congress, Montreal, July 21, 2015

Enabling Sustainable Future

Lost Value of Renewable Carbon

7/21/2015 2

>23% of total carbon released

annually by Ag field burningLoss of “carbon ore” value

by co-generation plants

Google maps

BIO World Congress 2015

A composite image of annual agricultural fires (an overlay of seasonal data)http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/GlobalMaps/view.php?d1=MOD14A1_M_FIRE

A Trillion Dollars Loss – Annually…

CHANGE

Challenges of Biomass-based Industry

7/21/2015 BIO World Congress 2015 3

Solving these challenges is prerequisite to viable business models

• Right technology– Overcoming conceptual traps

• CapEx

• Economy of scale– Chemical industry “Big” vs. Agriculture “Optimal Size”

– Biomass collection radius, transportation, storage

• Energy efficiency


Prohibitive CapEx for cellulosic conversions

demands new paradigms

http://blog.abengoa.com/blog/2014/02/12/cellulosic-ethanol-takes-off-faces-challenges/

Impressive >$500 Million Luxury

Lessons from Henry Ford

7/08/2015 5

“I will build a car for the great multitude. It

will be large enough for the family, but small

enough for the individual to run and care for.

It will be constructed of the best materials, by

the best men to be hired, after the simplest

designs that modern engineering can devise.

But it will be so low in price that no man

making a good salary will be unable to own

one – and enjoy with his family the blessing of

hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces.”

-- Henry Ford

Ford Model T

1908

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Model_T

7/21/2015 5BIO World Congress 2015

7/21/2015 6

PRIMARY HYDROLYSATE

(SOLUBLE MATTER)

INSOLUBLE RESIDUAL

SOLIDS (ENERGY FOR

STEAM & HEAT)

Minerals& other minor

solubles

Lignin(aromatic “insoluble”

thermoset polymer)

Hemicellulose(polymers of C5 sugars:

xylose, arabinose,

minor C6 sugar amounts)

Biomass Separation Strategy Is Optimized for Value

Generation

Cellulose(polymer of

glucose (beta

1,4- glycosides)

Most ValuablePentoses:


C5

C6

Proprietary Unit & Process: PHOENIX

• Overcomes the main challenge of handling biomass solids

• Capacity expansion by adding unit clones of optimal size (no scale-up risk)

• Pre-fab compact equipment parts; mass produced, no exotic components or high end alloys

• Cellulose and lignin not separated: used as captive energy source

• Versatility for biomass types; tolerant to contamination by soil

• Avoids use of undesirables: strong mineral acids, alkali, SO2, ammonia, oxidants, organic solvents

• Recovered minerals reused as fertilizersfor crop production


Primary Hydrolysis Operation and Extraction of Nutrient Inorganics and Xylose

C5-Selective ContinuousLow CapEx

• Staggered CapEx deployment to

balance supply/demand ramp-up

• Dramatic reduction of biomass

transportation costs

(<10 km collection radius)

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Products

Adapting unit sizing and fractal factors to local conditions:

field participation, roads, co-location, utilities

Local Distributed Manufacturing


PHOENIX Units

PHOENIX Worldwide Proliferation

9

Corn CobsCorn Cobs

Sugar Cane Bagasse

Rice Hulls

Oil Palm

Oat HullsOat Hulls

Sugar Cane Bagasse

Sugar Cane Bagasse

Oil PalmOil Palm

Sugar Cane Bagasse

Sugar Cane Bagasse

Wheat Straw Wheat Straw

Rice Hulls

Optimal Size ● Simpler Design ● Affordable ● Global

Corn Cobs

Wheat Straw

97/21/2015 BIO World Congress 2015

In the Spirit of Ford Model T

Building Foundation for C5 Platform

7/21/2015 10

PHOENIXes

Integration into

Primary Eligible

Consolidated

Biomass

Feedstocks

C5 HYDROLYZATE

FOOD

INDUSTRIALS

TIME

FOODC5-Formulated Sucrose

INDUSTRIALSFurfural, Furan Derivatives

BIOPLASTICPXLK and Gen2


PXLK

Pentoses Reduce Glycemic Response to Sucrose

7/21/2015 11

Am J Clin Nutr 2011;94:472–8

Nutr Res Pract 2011;5(6):533-539


Runaway glycemic

response to sucrose

(postprandial hyperglycemia,

blood glucose spike over time)Changes in blood glucose during

moderated glycemic response (desired)

Hypoglycemic

“aftershock”

(hunger period)

Sucrose-containing products co-formulated with ~5% pentose (C5) have

a reduced (tapered) postprandial hyperglycemia response in humans

Pentoses are safe mild inhibitors of intestinal human sucrase

C5 for Curbing Diabetes/Obesity Pandemic

7/21/2015 12

>$500 Billion Health

Expenditures

>400 Million Cases(many more people at risk)


Who is GRASPLEX?

• Breakthrough technology originator and enabler

– Carbohydrate conversions

– Lowest cost breakthrough pentosane hydrolysis technology for

extracting economic value from cellulosic biomass

• Applications and Markets

– Functional food ingredients for glycemic response control

– Drop-in industrial chemicals

– The best-in-class performance bioplastic

• Location: San Francisco Bay Area


Olga Selifonova (CEO), Sergey Selifonov (President and CTO), Erik Rutten (CBO), Donald Glidewell (CFO)


Join Us in Our Journey!

Thank you

Contact: [email protected] Tel: +1-612-701-2280

c5 chemistry platform for value creation from non-food ... · olga selifonova (ceo), sergey...

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