BioVerde and Unibio Partner on Methane-Based Route to Butadiene and Other Chemical Intermediates

Collaboration combines BioVerde’s engineered methanotroph platform with Unibio’s U-Loop® gas fermentation technology for commercial methane-to-chemicals

HOUSTON, TEXAS METROPOLITAN AREA, TX, UNITED STATES, April 16, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- BioVerde Tech LLC and Unibio A/S today announced a strategic collaboration to develop scalable processes for producing industrial chemical intermediates from methane. The partnership brings together BioVerde’s microbial engineering and downstream chemical conversion platforms with Unibio’s commercial-scale U-Loop gas fermentation technology. The initial focus is on pathways to butadiene, a key building block used in synthetic rubber and engineered plastics such as ABS.

The collaboration comes at a time when the chemical industry is increasingly focused on supply resilience, feedstock flexibility, and lower-carbon production pathways for critical intermediates. BioVerde and Unibio believe methane-based production can offer a practical new route for selected chemicals.

Under the collaboration, BioVerde will deploy its engineered strains of Methylococcus capsulatus within Unibio’s proprietary U-Loop vertical reactors optimized for methane gas transfer. The companies expect the combined platform to support high-productivity gas fermentation using methane and other low-cost gaseous feedstocks.

BioVerde’s platform is protected by over 25 issued US and foreign patents and builds on nearly a decade of work in methanotroph biology, strain engineering, downstream separations, and catalytic upgrading. BioVerde’s process is designed to co-produce biomass and chemical intermediates, improving carbon utilization and overall process economics relative to conventional petrochemical routes. The company is also developing downstream recovery and purification methods intended to support commercial-scale production.

“This is an important step for industrial biotechnology,” said David Witte, CEO of BioVerde. “We believe methane can become a practical feedstock for large-scale chemical production, and butadiene is a compelling place to start,” said David Witte, CEO of BioVerde. “It is a large, strategically important market where we see an opportunity to improve both economics and carbon performance.”

“Unibio’s U-Loop vertical loop gas fermentation platform enables highly efficient gas-to-material conversion at industrial scale,” said David Henstrom, CEO at Unibio. “By partnering with BioVerde and their expertise in developing high-performance microbial strains and downstream chemical processes, we can expand the application of our technology beyond protein production into a broader portfolio of sustainable chemicals.”

The companies will focus initially on process development across laboratory, demonstration, and pilot scales to systematically de-risk scale-up, with the long-term objective of enabling commercial-scale deployment of methane-based chemical manufacturing.

BioVerde has also recently been selected to participate in the SYNTHE6 incubator at Bounce Innovation Hub, supported through the Greater Akron Innovation Hub. In parallel, the company is advancing its Bio-Based Butadiene Feedstock project through Akron’s Sustainable Polymers Tech Hub ecosystem, with more than $12.3 million in non-dilutive federal and matching funding to BioVerde from the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

About BioVerde Tech LLC: BioVerde Tech LLC develops methane-based production platforms for chemicals and advanced materials. The company applies synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, and industrial process design to convert methane, including natural gas and biogas, into valuable chemical intermediates and co-products. BioVerde’s initial focus is butadiene, with broader platform applications under development.

About Unibio A/S: Unibio A/S is a Denmark-based biotechnology company focused on gas fermentation. Its U-Loop reactor technology enables efficient mass transfer and scalable microbial production from methane. Unibio has commercialized methane-based production of single-cell protein and is expanding into additional biomanufacturing applications.

Media Contacts
David Witte CEO,
BioVerde Tech LLC
david.witte@bioverde.us
BioVerdeGroup.com

Anastasija Volceka
Communications Lead,
Unibio A/S
avo@unibiogroup.com
Unibo.dk

Dave Witte
BioVerde Tech LLC
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