Making Gasoline from Bacteria

LS9, a company based in San Carlos, CA, and founded by geneticist George Church, of Harvard Medical School, and plant biologist Chris Somerville, of Stanford University, had previously said that it was working on what it calls "renewable petroleum." But at a Society for Industrial Microbiology conference on Monday, the company began speaking more openly about what it has accomplished: it has genetically engineered various bacteria, including E. coli, to custom-produce hydrocarbon chains.

To do this, the company is employing tools from the field of synthetic biology to modify the genetic pathways that bacteria, plants, and animals use to make fatty acids, one of the main ways that organisms store energy. Fatty acids are chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms strung together in a particular arrangement, with a carboxylic acid group made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen attached at one end. Take away the acid, and you're left with a hydrocarbon that can be made into fuel.

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LS9's current work uses sugar derived from corn kernels as the food source for the bacteria--the same source used by ethanol-producing yeast. To produce greater volumes of fuel, and to not have energy competing with food, both approaches will need to use cellulosic biomass, such as switchgrass, as the feedstock. Del Cardayre estimates that cellulosic biomass could produce about 2,000 gallons of renewable petroleum per acre.

Producing hydrocarbon fuels is more efficient than producing ethanol, del Cardayre adds, because the former packs about 30 percent more energy per gallon. And it takes less energy to produce, too. The ethanol produced by yeast needs to be distilled to remove the water, so ethanol production requires 65 percent more energy than hydrocarbon production does.

The U.S. Department of Energy has set a goal of replacing 30 percent of current petroleum use with fuels from renewable biological sources by 2030, and del Cardayre says he feels that's easily achievable.
Technology Review
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Can we finally stop talking about ethanol as a fuel now? Unfortunately, this won't help out the enviroment much; but if this takes hold we can lower our dependence on foreign oil, and won't have to turn over our infrastructure in a speedy mess. We should still devise an adequate electric car for personal transportation, but at least we can still have fuel for existing technology and haulling freight.

Great Article Fanatical,

I had a bio-chem professor who always talked about microbes as an answer to our energy problems. He always said that microbes are slave labor, but when they go on strike.............. they go on strike. A little biology humor for the masses.[/align]

Now that I think about it, this would produce a cleaner fuel since we can't get all the sulfur and nitrogen out of our current gas. Cars would still be shooting out carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and water, but no more sulfur and nitrogen oxides that produce acid rain.

Interesting article....

Cool stuff. How long does the process take?

Since you can now "patent" genetrically programmed bacteria, this sounds very interesting... I have $10,000.00 to play with .. I'd like to invest in it.