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Interim status after two years of co-operation: Joint RWE
Power/BRAIN project reaches strategically important
milestone
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Project scope to be expanded once more
Tailor-made specialist micro-organisms directly "feed" on CO2-containing flue gases from lignite-fired power stations and even grow at temperatures of 60 degrees centigrade. This is the very promising initial result of a research project run in co-operation by RWE Power and BRAIN AG. The electricity producer and the biotechnology company kicked off their co-operation at the Niederaussem power station exactly two years ago. The joint project aims at converting CO2 into biomass or directly into secondary raw materials with the help of micro-organisms bred to explore innovative CO2 conversion and synthesis pathways. Ultimately, biomass and industrially usable products emerge such as new bio-materials, bio-plastics and intermediate chemical products. Potential applications are being investigated for these products, e.g. as construction and insulation materials or in the production of fine and speciality chemicals - or possibly even bulk chemicals.
CO2 fixing micororganism isolated from flue gas pipeline in Niederaussem
Researchers at BRAIN, a leading white biotechnology
company, screened their own BioArchive as well as samples
taken straight from the flue of the Niederaussem BoA 1
power station for micro-organisms able to grow in flue gas
conditions utilising CO2. All in all, they took a closer
look at more than 3,000 micro-organisms. Only one out of
every three qualified for further investigation. In a next
step, the scientists identified and characterised the most
efficient utilisers of the greenhouse gas. By now, the
researchers have selected 29 candidates with particularly
convincing growth properties - of which ten were completely
unknown or hitherto undescribed as was determined by the
genetic characterization of the micro-organisms.
3.000 L fermenter at BRAIN for industrial scale up of biotech-processes
"Our pioneering work in the search for biotechnological CO2
conversion solutions bears first fruit - we continue to
lead the efforts to protect the climate," underscores Dr
Johannes Heithoff, Head of Research and Development at RWE
Power. "We are thoroughly convinced by the results
delivered by BRAIN's research team in co-operation with our
power station experts. As a consequence, we will expand the
research programme." So far, more than two million Euro
have been invested in this research program.
"We have reached a strategic milestone which shows that we
are on the right track. The fact that RWE Power intends to
expand its research efforts in this area is yet another
proof for our successful work," explains Dr Jürgen Eck,
BRAIN's Chief Scientific Officer. "We seek to make a
lasting contribution when it comes to utilising CO2 in an
industrially scalable system. In doing so we harness the
wealth of opportunities offered by microbial metabolism
pathways and synthetic biology solutions in order to
convert CO2 as efficiently as possible with the help of
powerful designer micro-organisms," says an optimistic Dr
Eck.
RWE Power intends to go beyond the current project focus as
the utility company plans to examine other carbon-rich
waste streams generated e.g. by sewage water, the
production of food or refinery processes. In this context,
RWE wants to establish an Innovation Alliance, bringing
together a total of 21 industrial companies, small and
medium sized enterprises as well as academic research
institutions in order to promote waste stream utilisation
projects through intense and synergistic co-operation.
Inspection of a flue gas pipeline of the BoA 1 in Niederaussem during a routine revision of the plant
The Coal Innovation Centre located at the Niederaussem
power plant site bundles all RWE Power activities on
climate-friendly power generation from coal. Aiming at
reducing emissions, the company operates Germany's first
CO2 scrubbing plant, a pilot plant in which lignite is
pre-dried (fluidized-bed drying with internal waste heat
utilization) and a REAplus high-performance scrubber unit
for improved dust and sulphur dioxide capture from flue
gas. All of these projects, costing the company more than
Euro 100m, are part of what is currently the world's most
modern and efficient lignite-fired power station (BoA
1).
For press enquiries please contact:
Mr Lothar Lambertz
RWE Power Press Dept.
T +49 201-12 23984
Dr Martin Langer
Corporate Development, BRAIN AG
T +49 6251-9331 16
About BRAIN
BRAIN AG is one of Europe's technologically leading
industrial white biotechnology companies. In strategic
co-operation projects with partners and customers from the
chemical and pharmaceutical industries as well as the
cosmetics and food industries, BRAIN AG identifies and
develops innovative products and solutions by harnessing
nature's yet untapped microbial diversity. Active product
components are found in BRAIN AG's own "BioArchive", one of
the most comprehensive of its kind. Since its foundation in
1993, BRAIN AG has entered into more than 70 strategic
collaborations with nearly all the relevant players within
the chemical industry, such as BASF, Ciba, Clariant, DSM,
Evonik Degussa, Genencor, Henkel, Nutrinova, Sandoz, Bayer
Schering, Südzucker and Symrise, to name but a few.
Currently, the company employs 99 highly skilled staff.
Please visit www.brain-biotech.de for more technology
information and pictures.
About RWE Power
RWE Power is Germany's largest electricity producer.
Over 17,000 employees work in the opencast mines and power
plants, processing plants and research projects, training
centres and administrative offices. With a power plant
capacity of 33,000plus megawatts, the company contributes
to RWE's broad energy mix of lignite, hard coal,
nuclear power, gas and renewable energies. RWE Power
invests billions in the construction of new, low-polluting
power plants and in the development of even more efficient,
environmentally benign technologies for power generation in
the future.
For more information and pictures of the Coal Innovation
Centre please visit www.rwe.com.
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