Ecovia Renewables, Inc. Awarded Phase I STTR Grant from the US Department of Energy

Ann Arbor, Michigan: Ecovia Renewables Inc., a renewable chemicals company developing high-performing biobased materials, received a DOE STTR Phase I grant of $224,535 for their proposal “Microbial co-cultures for production of methyl ketones from lignocellulose.” Under the grant, Ecovia Renewables will investigate the production of medium chain length (C11 to C15) methyl ketones via singe-step fermentation of renewable biomass with mixed microbial cultures. The work will be done in collaboration with Dr. Harry Beller’s research group at Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory of Berkeley, California.

“We are excited to explore the potential of our BioSynth™ microbial co-culture platform for the efficient production of methyl ketones,” says Jeremy Minty, CEO & Co-Founder of the company. “With diverse applications ranging from flavor and fragrances to biofuels, we see methyl ketones as promising platform molecules with excellent market potential.”

A University of Michigan spin-out company, Ecovia Renewables was founded in 2014 to commercialize the research of Dr. Nina Lin & Dr. Jeremy Minty at the Department of Chemical Engineering. Their research in designing, constructing, and modulating synthetic microbial ecosystems forms the basis of the EcoSynth™ platform. Their first proof-of-concept synthetic microbial ecosystem involved one-step production of isobutanol from lignocellulose.

About Ecovia Renewables:

Ecovia Renewables is a privately-held renewable chemicals company focused on the research and development of high -performing biobased chemicals. More information about Ecovia Renewables is available on the company website at www.ecoviarenewables.com or can be requested by contacting Dr. Jeremy Minty, CEO, (734)-926-3041.

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