Biocatalyst

At the heart of the INEOS Bio process are our patented bacteria. The bacteria are naturally occurring micro-organisms, which have evolved to efficiently convert carbon monoxide and hydrogen gases generated in their natural environment to ethanol. The bacteria  are harmless to people and to the environment and are totally safe to handle in an industrial process.

The INEOS Bio proprietary bacteria far out-perform any known conventional catalyst. The bacteria are highly selective to ethanol, are inexpensive compared to conventional catalysts, continually regenerate themselves, are tolerant to most impurities , and operate at low temperatures and pressures. 

By contrast, conventional catalysts have relatively low selectivity to the desired product, which means that the various by-products need to be separated out and purified or recycled. They need to operate at high temperatures and pressures to convert syngas to fuels. They are often costly to synthesise. They are easily poisoned and need to be regularly removed and replaced  This all results in higher production costs.