Futurity to license Metgen's METNIN technology for lignin valorisation
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.