Alcohols for fuel: Biological energy to usable energy Beth Papanek
Three main alcohols: Methanol Ethanol Butanol
History of Ethanol biofuelsdigest.com
Potential Yield
History of Butanol Produced commercially starting in the 1920’s Source: Hans Blaschek
Ethanol vs. Butanol Wikipedia: “Ethanol” “isobutanol”
Comparison Source: Hans Blaschek
Quick Biochem overview…
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Butanol Metabolism Source: Hans Blaschek
Problem: Preferential Hexose consumption Source: bio.miami.edu 38-50% Cellulose, 15-30% Lignin, 23-32% Hemicellulose in cellulosic plants
Possible Improvements: Genetic Engineering Saccharomyces cerevisiae Gene expression for xylose uptake Increased xylose transport Clostridium beijerinckii Inhibitor tolerance Metabolic constraints Electron flow
References Ezeji, T., Qureshi, N., Blaschek, H. (2007) Bioproduction of butanol from biomass: from genes to bioreactors. Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 18: Gray, K., Zhao, L., Emptage, M. (2006) Bioethanol. Current Opinion in Chemical Biology. 10: Nevoigt, E. (2008) Progress in Metabolic Engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Microbioloby and Molecular Biology Reviews. 72: