Syngenta In Biofuels Research Partnership

Syngenta; Queensland University of Technology, in Brisbane, Australia; and the Australian agbiotech firm Farmacule BioIndustries have formed the Syngenta Center for Sugarcane Biofuel Development, in Brisbane. The group plans to tackle the challenge of producing cellulosic ethanol from bagasse, the residue left after making sugar from sugarcane. The Queensland state government will contribute $5 million for the center and a related pilot plant. Earlier this year, Syngenta and Diversa, now part of biofuel developer Verenium, restructured an R&D collaboration to focus on enzymes that convert sugarcane biomass into ethanol and other fuels.