 | |
| Company type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Biofuels,cellulosic ethanol |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Lebanon, New Hampshire |
Key people | Founders : Robert Johnsen, Lee Lynd and Charles Wyman |
Number of employees | ~40 |
| Website | www.mascoma.com |
Mascoma Corporation was a U.S.biofuel company founded to producecellulosic ethanol made fromwood andswitchgrass.[1] Headquartered inLebanon, New Hampshire, the company was founded in 2005 by Robert Johnson (CEO), Lee Lynd and Charles Wyman, two professors fromDartmouth College.[2] The company was named afterMascoma Lake, which is near Lebanon. In November 2014, the yeast-related business assets including the Mascoma name were purchased by Lallemand, Inc. of Montreal, Canada. The R&D facility in Lebanon, NH was renamed Mascoma LLC which is now a subsidiary of Lallemand. The remaining business assets of the former Mascoma Corp. including the thermophilic bacteria technology, pilot plant in Rome, NY, and former headquarters in Waltham, MA were renamed Enchi Corporation.
The company was first financed by Flagship Ventures andKhosla Ventures in 2006.[3] Also in 2006, the company raised attracted additional attention with two private financing rounds led by General Catalyst Partners that raised $34 million and through its acquisition of Celsys BioFuels Inc. ofIndianapolis.[2] Also in 2007, it received a US$14.8 million grant from two government agencies—the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and theNew York State Energy Research and Development Authority—for the creation of a plant inRochester, New York, that would demonstrate the biomass-to-ethanol process.[4]
In September 2007, Mascoma announced plans to partner with theUniversity of Tennessee to build the first U.S. plant for the commercial production of switchgrass-based ethanol. In June 2008, however, the projected plant failed to meet its anticipated funding levels, and Mascoma withdrew from the partnership. Instead, it took on the role as technical adviser.[5]
In May 2008, the company entered a partnership withGeneral Motors to develop cellulosic ethanol based on Mascoma's formula that enables the biochemical conversion of nongrain biomass into low-carbon biofuel.[6] In the same month, Mascoma received a $10 million investment from theHouston-based oil and gas companyMarathon Oil.[7]
In October 2008, theU.S. Department of Energy gave the company a $26 million grant to develop a cellulosic fuel production facility.[8] In the same month, the state government ofMichigan gave the company a $23.5 million grant to bring that proposed facility toChippewa County, Michigan.[8]
On April 14, 2009, Mascoma Corp. announced plans to move its corporate headquarters from Boston to a new research laboratory inNew Hampshire. The move would consolidate most of Mascoma's operations, which, until now, have been divided among Boston; a demonstration facility inRome, New York; a Process and Development laboratory inWoburn, Massachusetts; and a lab inLebanon, New Hampshire, where many of the company's employees already are based. Researchers in Lebanon are working to convert plant material such as wood chips and corn stover into biofuel.[citation needed]
On May 7, 2009, the company announced a major technological breakthrough in the field of consolidated bioprocessing by utilizing a low-cost strategy for processing of biofuels from cellulosic biomass, which enables high yield of ethanol and cellulase in single step without the costly, separate usage of the cellulase enzyme.[9]
Other biofuel companies (such as Gate Fuels[10]Qteros[11]) also claim to have developed a one-step process to produce ethanol or value-added chemicals from plant material.
On January 11, 2012, the company announced that it was launching Mascoma Grain Technology, or MGT, the first commercial application of the company's proprietary technology platform. The MGT product is a genetically-modified yeast which produces enzymes and improves ethanol production in the corn-based fuel ethanol production process. At that time the company announced that it had entered into a multi-year exclusive partnership with Lallemand Specialties, Inc. to manufacture and distribute the MGT product in North America. On September 24, 2013, Mascoma Corporation announced that its MGT yeast products TransFerm and TransFerm Yield+ had been used to produce over 2 billion gallons of renewable fuel. At that time, the company announced its updated commercial strategy, focusing on deployment of its microorganisms to a broad spectrum of biofuel and biochemical applications.
On November 4, 2014, Mascoma Corporation announced that it had completed the sale of its yeast business to Lallemand, Inc. As part of the transaction, Lallemand acquired the Mascoma name and trademarks, all of its proprietary and patented yeast strains and associated technologies, as well as its entire research and development team located at its facility in Lebanon, NH.[citation needed]
On June 3, 2015, Mascoma LLC and the U.S. U.S. Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center announced development of a new strain of yeast developed by Mascoma and BESC for cellulosic ethanol production. The product, named C5 FUEL, is a yeast capable of converting xylose into ethanol. Xylose is a sugar found in cellulosic biomass that can not be fermented by conventional ethanol-fermenting yeast.[citation needed]
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