January 2013 - Senator Mark Udall, toured the Gevo facility in Englewood CO last month, and met with Gevo CEO Patrick Gruber, Ph.D. to see Gevo’s R&D as a provider of renewable chemicals and biofuels.

Gevo, a renewable chemicals and next-generation biofuels company, has developed  a way to convert existing ethanol plants into biorefineries to make isobutanol.   Gevo’s process uses a yeast biocatalyst to  produce  isobutanol.   Isobutanol  can be added into existing chemical and fuel products to deliver environmental and economic benefits.  Gevo’s plan will retro-fit  7 plants for the same cost to build 1 new plant and will produce more than 5 times more product  than a new plant.

Senator Udall (as quoted from Reuters) said:  "What I love about what Gevo is doing is they're helping create a future where we won't be so dependent, where the U.S. can maintain our superiority and, in the process, enhance our national security, keep innovating, and create jobs.  Gevo is brewing new formulas, materials, and chemicals for the fuels of the future."

Isobutanol can be a better performing fuel than ethanol with better economic value.  Isobutanol has similar physical and chemical properties to gasoline; it has a high octane number and  a 25 percent greater energy density compared to ethanol.

Gevo received an EPA SBIR award in 2009 to conduct research on yeast as a biocatalyst for their isobutanol production process.

For additional detail about this visit see Gevo press release: Mark Udall, United States Senator for Colorado, Visits Gevo, Advocates Alternative Energy Solutions Exit

For more information about Gevo’s  SBIR  research : Second-Generation Isobutanol Producing Biocatalyst

For more information on U.S. EPA’s SBIR Program: EPA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program