Intrexon JVs for Gas-to-Liquids Bioconversion

Intrexon Corporation (NYSE:XON), a leader in synthetic biology, today announced the formation of Intrexon Energy Partners (IEP), a joint venture with a select group of external investors, to optimize and scale-up Intrexon’s gas-to-liquid (GTL) bioconversion platform for the production of fuels and lubricants. The company’s primary target will be isobutanol forgasoline blending.

According to the company’s press release:

Intrexon’s biocatalyst approach to GTL bioconversion reduces energy use, production costs, and waste while producing a single high value product.  The Intrexon platform offers significant economic advantages over traditional conversion platforms that rely on costly thermochemical catalytic processes, such as the Fischer-Tropsch method of carbon upgrading, or depend on available plant-based feedstocks.  IEP will utilize natural gas as its feedstock, which is a far less expensive carbon source than biomass or sugar-based technologies.

Robert F. Walsh, Senior Vice President of Intrexon’s Energy Sector commented:

There is an established need to convert the ample supply of natural gas in North America into high-value oil products rather than to perform high-cost liquefaction for export of an inexpensive source of carbon. Our synthetic biology toolbox and whole genome engineering capabilities enable Intrexon to generate a biocatalyst solution with the highest economic return – maximizing energy output using fewer resources.

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