Formerly known as SunEthanol Inc, the firm became Qteros Inc in November 2008. Qteros is a biofuels technology company commercializing technology developed at the University of Massachusetts - a breakthrough discovery with the potential to enable ethanol manufacturers to produce ethanol from biomass (plant life) in a simple and cost-effective manner, thereby reducing the nation's dependence on fossil fuels and addressing the problem of global warming. The company's "Q Microbe" was discovered in New England soil by an individual who bad been researching cellulose degrading microbes for decades. Qteros's bio-processing technology is based upon this remarkable proprietary microbial "catalyst" that is uniquely capable of efficiently converting a wide range of cellulosic biomass directly to ethanol. By simplifying and consolidating the costliest aspects of current biomass-to-ethanol technology, Qteros can reduce both process and plant capital costs, making large-scale ethanol production from cellulosic biomass cost-effective. Converting cellulose to ethanol is currently a complex, multi-step process. Cellulosic biomass - plant matter - is an abundant, low-cost source of stored energy. However, unlocking that embodied energy has presented a challenge. Cellulosic biomass is composed of highly ordered sugar polymers, which are shielded from enzyme attack by a matrix of other complex polymers. This makes biomass very difficult to break down into its constituent sugars, in order to ferment these sugars into ethanol. Typically, cellulosic biomass must go through an intensive pretreatment step, after which enzymes are used to break down the biomass into simple sugars suitable for fermentation by yeast into ethanol. Enzymes, along with the intensive pretreatment required for their use, are the largest single cost component of cellulosic ethanol production. Qteros' technology eliminates the need for a separate enzymatic conversion step, and broadens pretreatment options. Qteros' proprietary catalyst offers other potential advantages. It can process an unusually diverse range of biomass feedstocks. It is also able to ferment all fermentable components of biomass (both C5 and C6 sugars, as well as other saccharides and polysaccharides), and ethanol is its primary product.
