Matís has been active in energy biotechnology for some time now and Matís' Division of Biotechnology and Biomaterials has received grants from various sources to look for special enzymes and microorganisms that can be used in energy biotechnology.
Projects funded by the Technology Development Fund and the Nordic-Energy Fund are currently underway to find and improve thermophilic micro-organisms using genetic engineering for the production of ethanol from biomass. The biomass contains polysaccharides such as cellulose and xylan, which traditional fermentation bacteria are not able to utilize, but such biomass occurs in industry and agriculture on a large scale and is underused today. Heat-loving microorganisms can break down and ferment such biomass and the aim of the web material is to make them more powerful, i.e. o. profitable.
At the beginning of this year, Matís and Lund University received a large grant from the Swedish research fund FORMAS in addition to the aforementioned grants for this project. Subsequently, Matís was invited to present the project at the Swedish Energy Congress
The conference is an annual event in Sweden with over 500 lectures covering all areas of energy efficiency and procurement. Matís' project received a good response and it is worth mentioning that FORMAS 'booth featured, among other things, a large picture of a thermal area, which was a kind of quotation from Matís' project.
For further information, please contact Guðmundur Óli Hreggviðsson, gudmundur.o.hreggvidsson@matis.is.