Biofuels company Cemvita has rolled out new technology at its commercial plant in Houston that allows production of up to 500 bbl/d of sustainable oil from crude glycerin, a milestone originally projected for 2029.

As part of the company’s microbial waste-to-oil process, Cemvita advanced its lipid productivity to quadruple its planned output. Reactor optimization has also increased oil extraction efficiency by at least 330%, Cemvita said in its July 23 press release.

The achievement is expected to increase Cemvita’s production capacity, improve operational efficiency and strengthen its position in the sustainable oil market, the company said.

“Our focus on the first principles has allowed us to design and create new biotech more cheaply and faster than ever before,” said Moji Karimi, CEO of Cemvita. “Our combination of low-capex design, innovations in bioprocess engineering and increased productivity, enabled by synthetic biology, sets us apart.”

This announcement follows the company’s breakthrough in developing a solvent-free extraction bioprocess, announced in May.

Nadia Skorupa Parachin, vice president of industrial biotechnology, joined Cemvita in July to accelerate the company’s synthetic biology advancements, Cemvita said.

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