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SunOpta Signs Joint Development Agreement With Royal Nedalco
SunOpta Signs Joint Development Agreement With Royal Nedalco.
About this update from Sunopta Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\n\nTORONTO, July 6 /CNW/ - SunOpta Inc. (SunOpta or the Company)\n(NASDAQ:STKL) (TSX:SOY) today announced that the company has signed a Joint\nDevelopment Agreement with Royal Nedalco, based in the Netherlands, one of the\nlargest ethanol suppliers in Europe. Under this agreement, SunOpta will\nlicense Nedalco's patented pentose fermenting yeast for the production of\ncellulosic ethanol in North America and will work with Nedalco to include\nSunOpta's technology and systems for cellulosic ethanol production into their\nplanned new grain ethanol facilities in Europe.\nNedalco, a subsidiary company of the Dutch sugar producer Cosun, has been\nproducing ethanol in Europe for over 100 years and is a world leader in\nethanol fermentation technology. A consortium including Nedalco, Delft\nUniversity of Technology and BIRD Engineering, all located in the Netherlands,\nhave developed a patented and novel pentose fermenting yeast that is capable\nof high conversions of pentose sugars into cellulosic ethanol. Nedalco is\nadding ethanol capacity in the Netherlands and the U.K. including a 200\nmillion litre grain ethanol plant that will produce road fuel. Nedalco plans\nto use their pentose fermenting yeast in this new facility.\nA significant challenge in producing cellulosic ethanol is the ability to\nferment both hexose sugars (glucose) and pentose sugars (xylose), since\npentose sugars can represent up to half of the available fermentable sugars in\ncellulosic biomass. The baker's yeast that is used in starch ethanol plants\ncannot ferment xylose or other pentose sugars, but this new yeast is robust\nand can ferment both hexose and pentose sugars at high ethanol yields.\nSunOpta intends to study the capability to produce fuel grade cellulosic\nethanol using by-product streams high in hexose and pentose sugars from its\nU.S. fiber operations incorporating this new yeast.\nMurray Burke, Vice President and General Manager of SunOpta's BioProcess\nGroup, commented that, \"We are extremely pleased to be working with Nedalco\nand we are very impressed with their technical excellence and with their\npentose fermenting yeast technology. We look forward to working with Nedalco\nto incorporate their technology and expertise with ours for the production of\ncellulosic ethanol in North America and Europe.\"\n\nAbout SunOpta Inc.\n\nSunOpta ...