New Genetically Engineered Bacteria Could Make Cellulosic Ethanol Cheaper
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY 
on 09.10.08
photo: Andreas via flickr
It’s been a pretty long road to making cellulosic ethanol commercially viable. As it stands there is one demonstration-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in the United States, and the the first commercial-scale biorefinery recently received approval back in July. Suffice it to say, cellulosic ethanol holds promise but is a work in progress.
Now comes word that researchers have engineered a bacteria which they say will make manufacturing the biofuel less expensive. The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science but Reuters gives the details for those of us who aren’t subscribers:
Bacterium Able to Operate at Higher Temps. Than Naturally Occurring Bacteria
The bacterium is known as ALK2 and can ferment all the sugars present in the biomass at higher temperatures (50°C) than naturally occurring bacteria. Lee Lynd, a professor at Dartmouth College and one of the authors of the study, explained that while natural bacteria can ferment cellulose “they do it at lower temperatures that require the use of an expensive enzyme called cellulase.” When the fermentation process runs at higher temperatures it required two and half times less cellulase in one of the experiments the researchers performed.
Lynd touts the value of this discovery:
Our discovery is one potential avenue for research to facilitate turning inedible cellulosic biomass, including wood, grass, and various waste materials, into ethanol. In the near term, the thermophilic bacterium we have developed is advantageous, because costly cellulase enzymes typically used for ethanol production can be augmented with the less expensive, genetically engineered new organism.
Report Authors Tied to Mascoma
As yet this is just at the research stage, considering that Lynd is the scientific advisor and co-founder of Mascoma, a company developing cellulosic ethanol production methods, the ALK2 procedure will likely be commercially available the millisecond after Mascoma deems it ready.
via :: Reuters and :: Science Codex
Cellulosic Ethanol
Who’s Got the Ceetoh Moves? - Part 2
First Cellulosic Ethanol Biorefinery in the U.S. Opens
First Commercial-Scale Cellulosic Ethanol Plant Approved for California
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I am skeptical of GMO for large scale applications. I'm worried these things would escape into the enviornment and supplant natural systems. That would decrease the predictability in our food supply and other biological services our environment provides.
Mention and/or links of other nations efforts in relation to cellulosic ethanol production and demonstration plants would be a good idea ... after all this website is not solely intended for (North) Americans... I included the (North) because Canada is included in your "Cheetoh Moves" link
For example from inside Treehugger an older post about cellulosic ethanol in Japan or an outside website's mentioning the Japanese sake brewer Gekkeikan's innovative technology which can directly produce ethanol from inedible plant materials such as paddy straw and chaff.
ZOMG, it's a GMO :O.
I specifically agree to use microorganism for energy development. Enzymes mainly cellulase has play a big role in our life. Recently research found the benefit using microorganism to produce cellulase as bioethanol fuel. Now, i am progressing also to produce cellulase from waste of snail farming which can give more added values as generated cellulolytic properties such thermostable cellulase. Lynd, has developed many cellulase from microorganism sourced like other researcher. Perhaps, we can change the world by limiting the use of fossil fuel and starting use the cellolytic materials from diffrent sources such as waste of biomass, animal waste, or any kind of waste used.