Aphios Wins U.S. Patent to Pretreat Cellulosic Biomass for Biofuels, Bio-Based Chemicals

摘要

Woburn, Mass.-based biotech outfit Aphios Corp. announced January 8 that it was granted U.S. Patent No. 8,540,847 entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Processing Cellulosic Biomass” for its “Aosic” enabling technology platform. Commenting on the patent award, Trevor P. Castor, inventor of the company’s Aosic platform said in a statement, “Cellulosic biomass is tightly wound for obvious mechanical strength reasons. In order to breakdown cellulose into its individual sugar molecules, cellulosic biomass must be expanded to enhance the access of enzymes that cleave the polymeric bonds between individual sugar molecules.”