dgreenf

Neat! We hadn't heard of them. There are a handful of companies using natural methanotrophs (methane-eating bacteria) to make chemicals. We hope that moving methanotroph enzymes into the standard industrial strains of bacteria and yeast will open up many more applications for these amazing enzymes.

Sorry we're not hiring yet, still just the founders for now.

We are grateful for our time at LS9, we got to work with some amazing people. I learned:

It's important to be flexible. Having the ability to use multiple raw materials and make different products is important, especially when the prices of all those things is constantly changing (think oil today).

Most people won't pay more for a green product. But if you can lower the cost for something that's already environmentally friendly, you can make an impact.

When it comes to living cells, we don't understand as much as we think we do. That means you need to try both engineering and evolutionary (random) strategies.

Thanks for the good wishes!

Methane is lower cost than other raw materials like oil. That is why there is an opportunity to make chemicals cheaper, and also greener. The microbe itself it the catalyst - actually the enzymes inside do the work.

A decentralized process would let you use all the stranded natural gas that is currently flared. It's a big challenge though.

It will be a few years at least. We need to show the technology works, then scale it up to get the cost down.

I agree, it's a little confusing. Some chemicals like malic acid can actually be made from both CO2 and methane. Of the four carbons in that molecule, one can come from CO2 and the rest from methane.

Industrial Microbes founders here. We all worked in biofuels for many years and are excited about new green ways of manufacturing. Some of the chemicals we want to make actually absorb carbon dioxide during their production. It's a great time to be designing and building using biology.

Let us know if you have any questions!