On Wednesday we visited TMO Renewables (www.tmo-group.com) in Guildford. TMO is a second generation bio-fuel producer that is beginning to gain commercial traction in both the USA and China. The first generation of bio-fuel operations received a great deal of (mostly warranted) criticism for food displacement effects and in most cases relied heavily on government subsidy to support business models.
By virtue of years of R&D on its proprietary bacteria, TMO has come up with a highly efficient process whose main characteristics are:
- Ability to use multiple feed-stocks
- Consumes complex sugar chains without a problem
- Requires much lower inputs of expensive enzymes.