Clients & Projects > Project Profiles > Qteros (Formerly SunEthanol)

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Project Description:

A venture capital funded Cellulosic Ethanol company growing out of small lab space located near the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus.

This client needed to grow quickly. During discussions with a recommended local piping contractor, the client asked for assistance in planning a new lab/pilot space. The contractor explained that this was not their area of expertise and recommended that they contact us. Their CEO got in touch with us soon afterward and SPEC was contracted for their complete laboratory and R&D pilot fermentation area.

To date, SPEC has focused on with key three project areas:

1. Selection and purchase of analytic laboratory equipment for their new lab.  Their own scientists were too busy developing next generation biofuel fermentation bacteria, to research and talk to vendors about HPLC and Gas Chromatography (GC) systems, so we introduced them to a consultant in our network, a lab equipment specialist.  This consultant interviewed their scientists to determine their analytic methods, and worked with vendors to negotiate volume pricing for outfitting all instruments and equipment in new lab. All of the required lab instruments were placed on order six weeks after SPEC initiated this effort.
2. Selection of rent-able lab space.  SPEC developed a preliminary facility program and related estimated utility requirements to guide Qteros’s evaluation of potential buildings.  Once the client honed in on a specific facility we revised the floor plans to test the fit of their intended program in the target facility. This particular location was especially attractive to our client as it was already fully outfitted with with lab benches and utilities from a previous tenant.
3. SPEC purchased several million dollars of pilot scale fermentors for the new labs. The client was having difficulty getting comparable quotes and a delivery schedule that met their aggressive timeline for R&D results.  SPEC brought in additional vendors, honed in on the exact options and systems to purchase, and succeed in reducing their costs and improving delivery of both their 20L and 100L fermentation systems.

Currently SPEC has started the construction of the modifications needed at Qteros’s new Marlborough, MA R&D facility and is expected to complete the approximately $3M effort by June 1, 2009.

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