Cobalt Innovations
Cobalt Biofuels has assembled an industry-leading team of scientists, engineers, and visionaries who are shaping the future of cleaner fuels. Cobalt’s most recent innovations include:
Strain Development
Cobalt has developed proprietary, high-throughput processes for identifying and engineering the optimal microbial strains for converting a given plant material to alcohol fuels. This innovative technology makes it possible to process a range of feedstocks in the production of biobutanol and other high energy density biofuels
Cobalt’s cutting-edge technology further improves the economics of biofuels by enabling production based on low-cost, stably-priced sources of non-food plant material. Cobalt production technologies are designed to process a broad range of feedstocks, reducing the risks associated with reliance on a single crop.
Reaction Management
Cobalt’s fermentation process differs significantly from the traditional batch processes used today to convert starch to alcohol fuel. Our patented reaction management technology poises our continuous fermentation process at peak production rates for extended periods of time. This Cobalt innovation substantially increases productivity and ensures optimum feedstock utilization. The result is a more efficient biofuel production process that has lower input costs, produces less waste material, and provides a more economic product for consumers.
Vapor Compression Distillation (VCD)
Cobalt’s patented fluid separations technology (known as vapor compression distillation, or VCD) removes alcohol from the fermentation steep using approximately one-half the energy required compared to typical separation techniques. Cobalt’s VCD technology has the additional advantage of drastically reducing water usage. By recycling the VCD-purified water back into the production process, Cobalt is able to substantially reduce the water requirement of biofuel production.