Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2008 May;1(3):211-25.
doi: 10.1111/j.1751-7915.2007.00020.x.

Microbial-based motor fuels: science and technology

Lawrence P Wackett  1
Affiliations
Review

Microbial-based motor fuels: science and technology

Lawrence P Wackett. Microb Biotechnol. 2008 May.

Abstract

The production of biofuels via microbial biotechnology is a very active field of research. A range of fuel molecule types are currently under consideration: alcohols, ethers, esters, isoprenes, alkenes and alkanes. At the present, the major alcohol biofuel is ethanol. The ethanol fermentation is an old technology. Ongoing efforts aim to increase yield and energy efficiency of ethanol production from biomass. n-Butanol, another microbial fermentation product, is potentially superior to ethanol as a fuel but suffers from low yield and unwanted side-products currently. In general, biodiesel fuels consist of fatty acid methyl esters in which the carbon derives from plants, not microbes. A new biodiesel product, called microdiesel, can be generated in engineered bacterial cells that condense ethanol with fatty acids. Perhaps the best fuel type to generate from biomass would be biohydrocarbons. Microbes are known to produce hydrocarbons such as isoprenes, long-chain alkenes and alkanes. The biochemical mechanisms of microbial hydrocarbon biosynthesis are currently under study. Hydrocarbons and minimally oxygenated molecules may also be produced by hybrid chemical and biological processes. A broad interest in novel fuel molecules is also driving the development of new bioinformatics tools to facilitate biofuels research.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Gallery of fuel molecules in current, or proposed, use in spark ignition, diesel or construction vehicles.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Butanol synthesis by the fermentation pathway of Clostridium acetobutylicum.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Processes for making biodiesel (A) chemically and (B) biologically.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Proposed pathway for alkene biosynthesis by Micrococcus sp.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Homepage of the Biofuels Database (http://www.biofuelsdatabase.org).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Albro P.W., Dittmer J.C. The biochemistry of long‐chain, nonisoprenoid hydrocarbons. IV. Characteristics of synthesis by cell‐free preparation of Sarcina lutea. Biochemistry. 1969;8:3317–3324. - PubMed
    1. AmeriGas, America's Propane Company. 2007. ) 14 August 2007 [WWW document]. URL http://www.amerigas.com/
    1. Amyris. 2007. ) Artemisinin Project at Amyris Biotechnologies, 16 August 2007 [WWW document]. URL http://www.amyrisbiotech.com/projects_artemisinin.html.
    1. Berner R.A. The long‐term carbon cycle, fossil fuels and atmospheric composition. Nature. 2003;426:323–326. - PubMed
    1. Biobutanol. 24 July 2007 [WWW document]. URL http://www2.dupont.com/Biofuels/en_US/index.html.