Menon has amassed a large library of samples from a wide variety of environments spanning the globe. Samples are stored to preserve the viability of microbes. Each sample contains many microbial species. Menon has isolated promising species from several of the samples, with a view to enabling new benefits to mankind and the environment.

Some of the isolated species show promise for cost-effective generation of products such as biofuels. The microbes digest lignocellulosic waste matter—plant-derived material that is usually discarded—and produce lipids that can be upgraded into petroleum-compatible hydrocarbon fuels from gasoline to jet fuel to diesel. Examples of lignocellulosic material successfully tested to date include paper, corn stover, sorghum, wood, almond hulls, grape pomace, and hydrolysed saccharides originating from them. Other products of the same process also provide value, such that the overall operation can produce fuels at a price competitive with current petroleum fuel prices. Menon has not only isolated these species but also developed key system and process technologies to render the production cost-effective.

Digestion of lignocellulosic materials and their derivatives yields stores of triacylglyceride (TAG) lipids in the microbes. These lipids are chemically extracted from the microbial cells. They have been converted into hydrocarbon fuels (alkanes for gasoline, jet and diesel) as well as fatty acid methyl esters (FAME—also known as biodiesel).

The Menon microbes have also been shown to digest glycerol, a byproduct of biodiesel manufacture. This substantially improves the overall efficiency of making biodiesel, as well as mitigating the problem of byproduct storage and environmental impact.

 

Typical TAG fatty acid profile:

 

Menon biodiesel meets or exceeds all ASTM specifications