Their technology allows the selection of carbon chain length, branching, saturation, and chemical functionality of each product.
[citation needed] LS9 microbial catalysts carryout all chemical conversions in a single step fermentation and produce an immiscible product that is naturally secreted from the cell.
The ability to leverage multiple feedstocks provides strategic advantages including the option to change feedstock based on economics and availability, the option to scale in diverse geographies local raw materials, and an ability to avoid competition with food.
In the future they plan on engineering long chain molecules for personal care markets, as well as amines/amides for agricultural chemicals and adhesives.
In 2010, LS9 UltraClean Diesel was awarded status as an officially registered fuel by the United States Environment Protection Agency (EPA).
In North America, most states adopt ASTM D975 as their diesel fuel standard and the minimum cetane number is set at 40, with typical values in the 42-45 range.
Premium diesel fuel can have a cetane number as high as 60 Sulfur is a major contributor to the greenhouse gas sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), a potent greenhouse gas that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has evaluated, with a global warming potential of 22,800 times that of carbon dioxide when compared over a 100-year period[5] Sulfur hexafluoride is also extremely long-lived due to being inert in the troposphere and stratosphere, and has an estimated atmospheric lifetime of 800–3200 years.
One of the major technical issue facing biodiesel is its susceptibility to oxidation upon exposure to oxygen in ambient air.
This concept is illustrated below through the systematic review of LS9’s most pivotal patent as they relate to the main components of biofuel generation.
In line with LS9's main initiatives of using synthetic microorganisms for the production of biofuel components, LS9 has been, for a period of years (2008–2013) been pushing patents for specific enzymes involved in fatty acid synthesis and metabolism.
One particular component, which LS9 has been successful in patenting is a key regulator in the initiation of fatty acid biosynthesis known as phosphopantetheinyl transferase (PPTase).
Submitted on April 11, 2010, this patent was published under the USPA, under application number 20100257777 on October 14, 2010 under the title of Production of Commercial Biodiesel from Genetically Modified Organisms.
In 2011, they were recognized by the US Department of Energy and given 9 million dollars in order for them to improve their integrated process to convert biomass feedstocks into fermentable sugars and then into diesel and other fuel and chemical products.
[11] There exist many biofuel companies which face the harsh challenge of reducing capital investment while trying to increase energy yield generated from their products.
To overcome this challenge, LS9 uses microbial fatty acid metabolism pathways in many of its reaction chambers to increase hydrocarbon yields.
The rationale behind LS9's commitment to the use of microbial species lies in their resilient nature to have undergone many selective pressures thus having the potential to be used in conditions necessary for biofuel generation.
Due to this, LS9 has developed a process where in their reaction chambers, shown above, utilize the natural properties of their desired components.
Due to the isolated nature of the microbial metabolism in cell culture, wherein the biofuel components are produced there is no need to increase temperatures to make reactions run at appreciable rates.