Codexis Awarded ARPA-E Grant for Carbon Capture Clean Air Technology

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Codexis, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDXS) today announced that the company has been selected to receive up to a $4.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for development of innovative technology to remove carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plant emissions.  This is the company's first grant under the ARPA-E Recovery Act program.

The grant supports development of biocatalysts for more efficient carbon capture from coal-fired power plants.  Coal-fired power plants are major emitters of carbon dioxide, a significant greenhouse gas believed to contribute to global warming. The technology is based on customized carbonic anhydrase biocatalysts that have the potential to enable cost effective, energy efficient capture of carbon dioxide.  Codexis is developing this technology in collaboration with CO2 Solution Inc. (TSX-V: CST) of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.

According to the Department of Energy, the award was announced April 29 by Vice President Joseph Biden and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu as part of a $106 million award through the DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program.  DOE made the award to projects that "could fundamentally change the way the country uses and produces energy" and "could produce advanced biofuels more efficiently from renewable electricity instead of sunlight; design completely new types of batteries to make electric vehicles more affordable; and remove the carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants in a more cost effective way."

Codexis, Inc. is a leading provider of optimized biocatalysts that make existing industrial processes faster, cleaner and more efficient than current methods and have the potential to make new industrial processes possible at commercial scale.  Codexis has commercialized its biocatalysts in the pharmaceutical industry and is developing biocatalysts for use in producing advanced biofuels under a multi-year research and development collaboration. The company is also using its technology platform to pursue biocatalyst-enabled solutions in other bioindustrial markets, including carbon management, water treatment and chemicals.

Contact: Lyn Christenson, [email protected], 650-421-8144 or Saskia Sidenfaden, [email protected], 212-827-3771.

SOURCE Codexis, Inc.