Terranol

Founded in 2007 and located at Technical University of Denmark, Terranol A/S develops yeasts to be applied in 2nd generation bioethanol production.
First generation bioethanol is produced from agricultural feedstock, such as sugar cane, sugar beet, and corn, whereas 2nd generation bioethanol is produced from agricultural wastes, such as wheat straw, sugar cane bagasse, corn stover and wood chips.
The manufacturing process for bioethanol involves pretreatment of biomass, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation, and distillation. Biomass contains 6-carbon sugars, primarily from cellulose, and 5-carbon sugars from the hemicellulose part of the plant material. After enzymatic hydrolysis yeasts ferment 6-carbon sugars to ethanol whereas 5-carbon sugars are not fermented to ethanol by any known natural microorganism in sufficiently high concentrations.
Yeast is a traditional ethanol producing microorganism. Bioethanol yield in yeast has been increased significantly by introducing an efficient 5-carbon fermenting system applying proprietary Terranol technology.