The DTI drives our ambition of ‘prosperity for all’ by working to create the best environment for business success in the UK. We help people and companies become more productive by promoting enterprise, innovation and creativity. We champion UK business at home and abroad. We invest heavily in world-class science and technology. We protect the rights of working people and consumers. And we stand up for fair and open markets in the UK, Europe and the world EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Project aims and objectives. This project aimed to develop a recombinant thermophilic microorganism that was able to produce ethanol from the mixed C5 (xylose) and C6 (glucose) substrates typically found in biomass hydrolysates. The major emphasis was to develop a stable recombinant thermophilic organism that formed ethanol as its major product and which was incapable of producing signif icant quantities of by-products. Background and Justification for Project. Bioethanol is already an accepted transportation fuel in many countries and can be used in its pure form or as a blend with gasoline. Currently some 30 million tonnes are produced annually and its production is forecast to grow at 17% p.a. Brazil is currently the leading producer of Bioethanol, manufacturing approximately half the world’s output (16 billion litres per annum), with the USA catching up fast (9 million tpa, 30% growth in 2003). Bioethanol production is also rapidly growing in Asia with China having just opened the world’s largest fuel ethanol plant at 600,000 tpa. In Europe, both Spain and Germany have demonstrated their strong commitment to utilising renewable resources by lowering fuel duty on bioethanol by 100% and the EU has set a target of 5.75% (by energy) biofuel use in transportation by 2010. This latter equates to a ~9% replacement by volume, equivalent to a demand for 25million tonnes of bioethanol. Ethanol costs could be significantly reduced if cheap plant biomass-based feedstocks could be utilised. Signif icant efforts are being undertaken in North America and the EU to develop cost effective technology for the hydrolysis of biomass into its constituent sugars. Enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass has been improved under a U.S Government funded programme by Novozyme and Genencor, while Canadian company, Iogen, has developed an enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation process with Canadian government grants which, reportedly, is being commercialised. Currently, the cost of production of bioethanol for fuel is prohibitively high compared with gasoline. This is due, not only to the expensive sugar or starch…

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