Biofuels start-up signs China agreement

A small firm based in Indiana, US, has agreed a deal with biofuel technology developers Cofco Corp and Novozymes in China.

Start-up company Green Tech America (GTA) is to travel to Beijing to the China-US Advanced Biofuels Forum to sign a licence agreement with the two energy giants after it created a yeast-based cellulosic ethanol technology, the Lafayette Journal and Courier reports.

According to the news provider, the innovative development allows the production of the biofuel in a more cost-effective manner than conventional yeast-based solutions.

Nancy Ho, founder of GTA, said: "[The agreement] symbolises that GTA played an important role internationally in the US and China cooperation for cellulosic ethanol production that will increase the status of GTA in the US."

Dr Phillip Westmoreland, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at North Carolina State University in the US, recently said that using biofuels as a sustainable energy source is an increasingly viable option.