After receiving an $80,000 award from the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, an industrial scale production of succinate from genetically engineered E.coli will commence in Kansas, USA.

"Succinate is a high-priority chemical that the U.S. Department of Energy has targeted for biosynthesis," said process co-developer George Bennett, of Rice University. "One reason for this is succinate's broad utility -- it can be used to make everything from non-corrosive airport de-icers and non-toxic solvents to plastics, drugs and food additives."

The researchers are also collaborating with Manhattan, Kansas-based AgRenew Inc., which just began testing how to use farm-grown products like grain sorghum as feedstocks for the succinate-producing bacteria.

Praveen Vadlani, principal research scientist for AgRenew, says

"We are excited about the prospects this project offers to meet a market need for the benefit of both institutions and American agriculture itself. We also appreciate the support of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for this work to create another high-value product from agriculture."

Read the press release here.