Microvi Biotech announced that it has been awarded a $2 million US Department of Energy grant as part of a group of collaborators including Auburn University, Cornell University, the University of Alabama, Virginia Tech and EcoEngineers. The project is being led by Auburn University.The project promises to improve fuel efficiency and economy. The project will create a bio-based fuel additive that can be blended with diesel fuel to significantly reduce soot and greenhouse gas emissions and yield cleaner engine operation in cold-weather conditions.The grant is one of 42 totaling $80 million awarded by the DOE to support advanced vehicles technologies research. Approximately $10.1 million of the funding will support six projects, including the project Microvi is participating in, focusing on the co-optimization of engines and fuels.“We are developing an integrated bioprocess for efficient butyl acetate production,” said Yi Wang, principal investigator for the project and assistant professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering in Auburn University’s College of Agriculture. “We anticipate that adding BA to diesel fuel will reduce pollutants and costs associated with meeting environmental regulations.”“This project represents a complementary and synergistic collaboration between academia and industry,” Wang said. “Such efforts will decrease the cost and time required for developing new biotechnologies.”The bioprocess development for high-efficiency butyl acetate production in this project is based on an innovative technology developed by Microvi called MicroNiche Engineering (MNE). MNE focuses on the microenvironment for the development of fit-for-process biocatalysts that can be used for nearly any microbe, feedstock, process, and product across a variety of applications including biochemicals, biofuels, biopharma, food, water and wastewater.“We are excited to be able to utilize our MicroNiche Engineering technology platform as part of this important project to help find better, more sustainable solutions for the transportation industry,” said Fatemeh Shirazi, CEO and CTO of Microvi Biotech, Inc.There are currently more than 800,000 tons of butyl acetate produced annually.To learn more about this project please see the full release here: Auburn University Leads $2 Million DOE Project to Maximize Fuel Economy.About MicroviMicrovi is a green technology company based in the San Francisco Bay Area that delivers next-generation biotechnologies for the water, wastewater and renewable chemical industries. Microvi offers commercial technologies around the world to reduce waste, increase productivity and provide disruptive economics across the value chain. Learn more at www.microvi.com.###Contact:Karin KidderVP of Marketing, Microvi1 (510) 344-0668kkidder@microvi.comSource https://www.microvi.com/latest-news/2018/11/13/2-million-us-department-of-energy-grant-awarded-for-collaborative-project-to-develop-economical-bio-based-fuel-additive