REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Aug. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Codexis,
Inc. (Nasdaq:
CDXS) presented important technical progress in its carbon
capture program yesterday at the CO2 Capture Technology Meeting
being sponsored this week by the U.S. Department of Energy/National
Energy Technology Laboratory in Pittsburgh. Codexis,
supported by a grant from the DoE’s ARPA-E Recovery Act program, is
using its patented CodeEvolver™ directed evolution technology
to develop processes to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from
coal-fired power plants.
The research program is based on development of customized
carbonic anhydrase (CA) enzymes that could catalyze carbon capture
under industrial conditions. Data showed CA performance has been
improved by about two million fold over natural forms of the
enzyme. Evolved CA enzymes are functional and stable in relatively
inexpensive, energy efficient solvents for 24 hours at temperatures
greater than 90 degrees C.
Use of carbon capture solvents with fully developed enzymes is
expected to substantially reduce the costs and energy requirements
to capture CO2 produced by coal-fired power plants. The data was
presented by James Lalonde, Ph.D., Codexis’ Vice President of
Biochemistry and Engineering Research and Development. Codexis is
jointly developing the technology with CO2 Solution, Inc., Quebec,
Canada. (TSX-V:CST)
A 2011 NETL report estimated that coal-fired power plants
account for roughly 37% of total U.S. CO2 emissions and that
current technology to capture CO2 would reduce power generating
capacity by 30%.
In May 2010, Codexis was selected to receive an ARPA-E Recovery
Act program grant for up to $4.7 million from the U.S. Department
of Energy for development of innovative technology to remove carbon
dioxide from coal-fired power plant emissions. The grant was
one of 37 research projects which the DoE
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