Evry (France) – March 24th, 2014 – Global Bioenergies (NYSE Alternext Paris: ALGBE) announces that the Australian Intellectual Property Office has granted two patents that protect key steps of its process for converting renewable resources into isobutene.
Global Bioenergies holds exclusive exploitation rights to about twenty families of patent applications which protect its processes for converting renewable resources into isobutene, butadiene and propylene. Today, Global Bioenergies announces that the first two applications have resulted in the granting of two patents in Australia, registered AU2009265373 and AU2010297362. Each of the granted patents protects one essential enzymatic reaction of the isobutene production pathway constructed by Global Bioenergies. The particularity of this process is that isobutene is directly produced by fermentation. It therefore differs from the only other known competing process which is much more complex as it involves a liquid precursor that must be extracted and then purified before it is finally chemically converted into isobutene. Philippe Marlière, co-founder and President of Global Bioenergies’ Scientific Advisory Board declares: “We have taken a decisive lead in the synthesis of bio-sourced gaseous olefins. Every possible effort is now being made to maintain and even further increase this lead. Today’s great news validates our strategy to protect our breakthrough innovations and our model of out-licensing these technologies to industrialists for their exploitation”. These granted patents are part of two applications that have now reached the national phase in many more territories including Europe, the United-States, China and Brazil. Frédéric Pâques, Chief Technology Officer of Global Bioenergies, adds: “The enzymatic activities covered by these patents have been successfully implemented in bacterial strains that are currently used at lab scale to produce isobutene. New generations of these strains will be built and transferred to our pilot under construction in Pomacle-Bazancourt. They will then be transferred to our second pilot, currently in the engineering phase in the hands of the industry leader Linde. This pilot will be installed on the Leuna refinery platform and will be operational in 2015”.
About GLOBAL BIOENERGIES
Global Bioenergies is one of the few companies worldwide, and the only one in Europe, that is developing a process to convert renewable resources into hydrocarbons through fermentation. The Company initially focused its efforts on the production of isobutene, one of the most important petrochemical building blocks that can be converted into fuels, plastics, organic glass and elastomers. Global Bioenergies continues to improve the yield of its process and is actively entering the industrial pilot testing phase. The company recently replicated this success to propylene and butadiene and is also looking to continue with other members of the gaseous olefins family, key molecules at the heart of petrochemical industry. Global Bioenergies is listed on NYSE Alternext Paris (FR0011052257 – ALGBE). PRESS RELEASE To receive regular information updates, subscribe to our news feed on www.global-bioenergies.com