ALTERNATIVE FUELS

Microbes engineered for direct conversion of biomass to fuel

A new research from the University of Georgia will allow the direct conversion of switchgrass to fuel. The process allow the direct conversion of biomass to biofuel without pre-treatment, using the engineered bacterium Caldicellulosiruptor bescii. fig8This pre-treatment step has long been the economic bottleneck hindering fuel production from lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks.

Janet Westpheling, a professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of genetics, together with her team of researchers, succeeded in genetically engineering the organism C. bescii to deconstruct un-pretreated plant biomass.

Ethanol is but one of the products the bacterium can be taught to produce. Others include butanol and isobutanol (transportation fuels comparable to ethanol), as well as other fuels and chemicals-using biomass as an alternative to petroleum.