A grant in excess of Aus$2.5 million has been awarded to Microbiogen by the Australian Federal Government. The grant will allow Microbiogen to further develop its non-genetically modified yeast, to use in the production of ethanol. The announcement of the award, under the Australian Government's $15 million Second Generation Biofuels Research and Development Program, was made in last week (20th August) by the Australian Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson.

Announcing the grant, Minister Ferguson said: "This funding will provide a timely boost to the biofuels industry and progress the development of the next generation of biofuel technologies. Second generation biofuel technologies provide unique opportunities to supplement existing fuel supplies in a truly sustainable manner by deriving biofuels from low cost, non-food materials.”

Microbiogen technology is now sufficiently advanced to begin large-scale industrial testing. The company is currently in negotiations with a number of potential collaborators which have the facilities required to conduct the testing.