The Company Founder

Dr. Jose M. Escovar Kousen has 25+ years experience in the fields of bioprocesses (fermentation and cell culture), biofuels, bio based organic acids, nutraceuticals, brewing and food products. He has worked with over 10 companies and academic institutions from multinational giants such BP Biofuels, Bayer and Novozymes to start-ups such as Zeachem and middle size companies like Martek (now DSM) and Aventine Energy.

He has been or is currently a consultant and/or technical advisor to 3 companies working in biofuels (biodiesel), food (baker yeast) and biologicals for agriculture. He has been Founder and/or Chief Scientific Advisor of two start-up companies in Latin America (dairy products and membrane water treatment) and a biofuel startup in the USA. He has submitted 3 US provisional patents and 1 granted patent, as well as 5 IP disclosures to clients and employers. He has given several short courses on fermentation and membrane technology in Latin America.

He is a Fulbright scholar and has a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota; a MS and a Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering & Food Science from the University of Rhode Island, Kingston. He conducted postdoctoral studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana on membrane applications to biologicals processes

BiofuelTech Consultants

BT Consultants focus on providing value to our customers in industrial and investment firms and government institutions. We focus but are not limited to alternative sources of energy (biofuels) and bio-based chemicals and their supporting technologies. We believe that the right balance between profitability and environmental concerns are the clue for a successful business. Besides biofuels and bio-based products (fermentation/cell culture) we provide support in three other areas membrane separation technology; food & beverages and water and wastewater treatment.

The company works with three consultants plus the founder. The expertise areas of one of the consultants include yeast genetic engineering and synthetic biology and the other has 20 years experience in bacterial and fungal genetic engineering, synthetic biology, strain development and high throughput screening and genomics. BFT Consultants also works with an expert in the area of food and beverages (26 years with Pepsico).

We will work with our customers to determine their needs whether is to improve a particular process or to create a new one or to utilize waste streams or to open new intellectual property space. To deliver value we center on evaluating the technical and economic feasibility of a particular application in order to determine the actions to be taken. We support process design, development and scale up to deliver technology from the laboratory bench and pilot testing on to commercial scale through innovation and experimentation. We will supervise lab, pilot plant and industrial trials to provide the data and models necessary for the optimal design of the process and/or plant. For new applications we will provide technology transfer to commercialize the new technologies to create novel products and intellectual property.