Transcript Alcohol for Fuel

Alcohols for fuel:
Biological energy to
usable energy
Beth Papanek
S
Three main alcohols:
SMethanol
SEthanol
SButanol
History of Ethanol
biofuelsdigest.com
Potential Yield
History of Butanol
S 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
38-50% Cellulose, 15-30% Lignin, 23-32% Hemicellulose in cellulosic plants
Source: bio.miami.edu
Possible Improvements: Genetic
Engineering
S Saccharomyces
cerevisiae
S Gene expression for
xylose uptake
S Increased xylose
transport
S Clostridium beijerinckii
S Inhibitor tolerance
S Metabolic constraints
S Electron flow
References
Ezeji, T., Qureshi, N., Blaschek, H. (2007) Bioproduction of butanol from
biomass: from genes to bioreactors. Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 18:
220-227.
Gray, K., Zhao, L., Emptage, M. (2006) Bioethanol. Current Opinion in
Chemical Biology. 10: 141-146.
Nevoigt, E. (2008) Progress in Metabolic Engineering of Saccharomyces
cerevisiae. Microbioloby and Molecular Biology Reviews. 72: 379-412.