Gevo Awarded Patent Covering Low-Cost Technology That Removes Isobutanol from Fermentation Broth

Gevo

, announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has awarded the company U.S. Patent No. 8,283,505, which protects Gevo's Integrated Fermentation Technology® (GIFT®). "This patented technology includes a proprietary separation unit that is designed to elegantly enable cost-efficient separation of isobutanol from other components of the fermentation broth," said Brett Lund, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Gevo. The technology covered by the '505 Patent "provides Gevo and its partners with a significant competitive advantage, as it protects the most cost-efficient separation technology available. The GIFT® system permits the continuous removal of isobutanol as it is formed in the fermentation broth. This increases productivity of the genetically modified yeast cells because yeast does not thrive in high concentrations of isobutanol," said Lund. The technology also increases final isobutanol concentrations extracted from the fermentation broth, he added. The USPTO granted the '505 Patent in view of art cited against Gevo's earlier-issued U.S. Patent No. 8,101,808 in a reexamination request filed by Butamax Advanced Biofuels, LLC. "This means that the USPTO has determined that the '505 Patent is novel and inventive over the publications referenced in reexamination of the '808 Patent," Lund said. "Given the thorough examination conducted by the USPTO, we believe the patent is quite strong and capable of withstanding challenges by competitors who are attempting to produce isobutanol with inferior technologies," said Lund. "We believe these competitors will have great difficulty in producing isobutanol at competitive costs without licensing this technology from Gevo."