Biomass Crop Technology Advancements

October 27, 2008 - Farmcentre.com
"Agriculture technology and the agriculture industry are going to be fundamental in dealing with the future issues of fuel, food and the environment," says Peter Matthewman.

Performance Plants Inc. (PPI), a leading Canadian food and biofuel biotechnology company with over 12 years of successful plant trait innovations, has developed patented crop technology that will benefit growers and end users of biomass crops. PPI has research centres in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Kingston, Ontario and most recently Waterloo, New York, focusing on developments in both food and biomass crops.

"PPI's capacity to deliver innovative products for the biofuels industry is now totally in house, from trait discovery to registered crop seeds for farmers and biomass feedstock for industry," says Peter Matthewman, President of Performance Plants Inc. "Our focus is on developing traits that enable plants to better grow with the changing global environmental and climatic conditions." PPI works exclusively with second generation crop traits, which are quite different from first generation crop traits such as herbicide and insect resistance.

"Second generation crop traits are totally different and, in our case we are using and developing traits using the plant’s own genes," explains Matthewman. "We modify the specific plant genes through a series of molecular switches that are modified to either enhance or decrease the gene’s performance depending on the effect we want."

PPI has developed a suite of patented weatherproof technologies for both food and biomass crops, including: Yield Protection Technology® (YPT®) that enables plants to withstand the debilitating effects of drought and is anticipated to be available in corn by 2011. Heat Tolerance Technology™ (HEAT™) that allows plants to withstand heat stress better. Water Efficiency Technology™ (WET™) that allows crops to produce the same yields with up to 25 % less water.

Benefits to Biomass Endusers

PPI's biomass business model is focused on working further down the value chain and in joint venture developments with biomass seed companies. "We are developing non-food biomass feedstocks that will be grown on land and under conditions less suitable for food or feed production," says Matthewman. "Although the crops might look the same, the traits can be modified to meet end-user processing specifications."

PPI developed a genetic trait technology ideal for plant biomass applications such as cellulosic ethanol, fibre and forage. "Our Biomass Enhancement Technology™ (BET™) delivers twice the biomass yield by dramatically boosting vegetative plant growth," says Matthewman. "Increased cellulose per acre significantly reduces feedstock costs, a key requirement of the ethanol industry."

In conjunction with the Lafarge Cement Plant in Bath, Ontario, PPI launched a pilot project to use renewable biomass crops as a replacement for coal. "Instead of burning coal, which has a huge carbon footprint, Lafarge is looking at using renewable biomass crops that we are growing on energy farms on their property," explains Matthewman. Several biomass energy crops are being tested, including switchgrass, Miscanthus grass, sorghum and tropical corn.

Dedicated plants designed to provide optimum conversion of cellulose into ethanol or other biofuels have also been developed. Matthewman explains the problem with current cellulosic ethanol production today is the huge upfront processing cost associated with the biomass before it can go into the fermentation process. PPI has developed a unique cellulose wall digestibility trait, called Enhanced Conversion Technology™ (ECT™) that increases ethanol yield and reduces the need for pre-processing.

Getting through the necessary research, development and regulatory aspects for new biofuel crops requires a 7 to 8 year development program. Matthewman hopes to see the first commercial non-food crops available by 2013 and expects to have a range of varieties suited to the various cropping areas across Canada. Technology traits are also being investigated for renewable biochemical and bioproduct crops for the future.