France-based Deinove has released its 2013 financial results, reporting progress with increased research and development efforts. The company announced a net loss of €3.4 million ($4.69 million), up from a €2 million net loss in 2012. The increase is attributed to a 23 percent increase in operating expenses.

Deinove designs and develops new standards for industrial processes based on the Deinococcus bacterial. According to the company, its 2013 research and develop efforts resulted in several major advances. Deinove said it has strengthened the metabolic engineering and fermentation platform to improve efficiency. It has also realized a significant improvement in performance and productivity of its bacteria, resulting in the achievement of 9 percent volume-volume (v/v) ethanol. The company calls the achievement a world first for bacterial fermentation process. In addition, Deinove highlighted the involvement of the government in developing the Deinochem program for the production of industrial chemicals, noting the French Agency for Environment and Energy Management (ADEME) and General Commission invested a combined €5.9 million in the initiative.

"In 2013, we significantly increased the value of our proprietary technology based on mastering Deinococci,” said Emmanuel Petiot, CEO of Deinove, in a statement. "We have made significant progress in the Deinol programme and have laid solid foundations for the development of our Deinochem programme. Thus, we position Deinove amongst the most advanced companies in the plant chemistry and biomass valorization market. We have been negotiating with several global manufacturers for the integration of our bacteria in their processes and we are confident that we will achieve structural partnerships shortly."

Regarding its biofuels efforts under the Deinol program, Deinove noted it has launched a new series of tests in 300 liter fermenters. The tests are designed to validate the performance of the Deinol method to breakdown lignocellulosic biomass into simple sugars and ferment of those sugars into ethanol. Results of the testing are expected to be available during the first half of this year, with pilot-scale trials planned for early 2015.

The Deinochem program has been focused on the isoprenoid pathway. The family of chemicals includes opportunities in the commodity markets for products like isoprene and rubber, and in the specialty chemicals market for products like carotenoids or aromatic compounds. Deinove said it is implementing a new partnership with the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland on the Deinochem project that aims to enhance the optimization of the Deinococcus bacteria. A similar collaboration was successfully completed for the Deinol program.