BiotechMashup

(Rutgers University) Desmond Lun, an associate professor of computer science at Rutgers University-Camden, is researching how to alter the genetic makeup of E. coli to produce biodiesel fuel derived from fatty acids.

Researchers have developed a microbe that can produce an advanced biofuel fuel directly from biomass. Deploying the tools of synthetic biology, the researchers engineered a strain of E. coli bacteria to produce biodiesel and other important chemicals derived from fatty acids.

(DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) Researchers with the Joint BioEnergy Institute have developed a microbe that can produce an advanced biofuel fuel directly from biomass. Deploying the tools of synthetic biology, the JBEI researchers engineered a strain of E. coli bacteria to produce biodiesel and other important chemicals derived from fatty acids. JBEI is a DOE Bioenergy Research center led by Berkeley Lab.

by Yangkai Duan, Zhi Zhu, Ke Cai, Xiaoming Tan, Xuefeng Lu

Amid growing concern that using soybeans and other food crops to produce biodiesel fuel will raise the price of food, scientists have identified a new and unlikely raw material for the fuel: Alligator fat. A new article documents alligator fat's suitability for biofuel production.

(American Chemical Society) Amid growing concern that using soybeans and other food crops to produce biodiesel fuel will raise the price of food, scientists have identified a new and unlikely raw material for the fuel: Alligator fat. Their report documenting gator fat's suitability for biofuel production appears in ACS' journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.

Scientists have produced 15 to 30 grams per liter of n-butanol by constructing a biochemical pathway and adding a driving force to E. coli, setting a record beyond current production practices.

Existing technology can produce biodiesel fuel from municipal sewage sludge that is within a few cents a gallon of being competitive with conventional diesel refined from petroleum, according to a new article. Sludge is the solid material left behind from the treatment of sewage at waste-water treatment plants.

(American Chemical Society) Existing technology can produce biodiesel fuel from municipal sewage sludge that is within a few cents a gallon of being competitive with conventional diesel refined from petroleum, according to an article in ACS' Energy & Fuels, a bi-monthly journal. Sludge is the solid material left behind from the treatment of sewage at waste-water treatment plants.