Biotech Updates

Costa Rican Graduate Students Produce Biofuel from Whey

December 1, 2016
http://biofuels-news.com/display_news/11426/costa_rican_graduate_students_produce_biodiesel_from_whey/

A team of graduate students from Costa Rica Institute of Technology (TEC) has been studying whey and its potential as a feedstock in biodiesel production.

Whey, the liquid produced by the coagulation of milk during the cheese making process, contains 94% water, protein, and fat. Their project, named Cibus 3.0, seeks to utilize bacteria to convert this dairy by-product into biofuel for transportation, industrial machinery and other sectors.

David Garcia, the coordinator of the project, said that the idea to use whey came as a response to the waste problem in dairy product manufacturers. The first two years of the research project focused on studying products that could be achieved from processing whey with bacteria.

The Cibus 3.0 project is expected to close by the end of the year and its results will be presented in 2017.