Futurity to license Metgen's METNIN technology for lignin valorisation

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Type of post: NEWS.

Futurity has finalized a licensing agreement with MetGen Oy. Cooperation will allow the development of a full range of high value lignin-based products including resins and adhesives, foams, composites, biobased chemicals and polymers.
Press release: “From tree to money faster and more efficiently than ever: Futurity to license Metgen's award winning METNIN technology for lignin valorization”, 9/3/2020.

Figure 1. Futurity to license Metgen's METNIN technology for lignin valorization

Futurity and its lignocellulosic biorefinery model

Futurity is in the process of establishing New Zealand's first advanced commercial biorefinery in Tairāwhiti-Gisborne. This plant will be the first of a number of biorefineries to be constructed around New Zealand.

Its technology is based on two licensed processes:
-  Futuration™: Assisted by heat, steam, pressure and enzymes, it digests the tree into its original building blocks: lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose.
- Valority™: Optimises each of the three fractions into specialty grades of useful materials to be utilised in several applications.

The METNIN™ technology platform

MetGen is a pioneer in lignocellulosic industrial enzymes and renewable chemicals. The license agreement signed by Futurity and MetGen is related to MetGen’s METNIN™ technology platform which facilitates the enzymatic break down of Futurity’s lignin into its fundamental component parts. METNIN has overcome the barriers to create high quality, low cost products that unlock the true value of the lignin.

The technology is based on a very novel enzyme that thrives in extreme conditions: it is capable of modifying lignin in high temperatures and pH 11. This ability to depolymerize and activate lignin at highly alkaline conditions allows for driving the balance of the related reactions towards smaller molecular weight, very high number of potential binding sites and stable fractions.

It utilizes robust and widely available membrane systems to fractionate the enzymatically cleaved and activated lignin to specific molecular weights and change the characteristics of these fractions to match end-user needs. It can tailor enzyme fractions to have different chemical characteristics.

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