TECHNOLOGY FOR CHANGE

Genetically Engineered Microorganisms Create Gasoline from Greenhouse Gas

R. Colin Johnson | Date: 01-22-10 | Comments

Joule Biotechnologies claims its solar fuels�produced totally in the United States�will be price-competitive with fossil fuels and could meet the needs of the entire country.

Ethanol, diesel and the components of gasoline can be produced by genetically engineered microorganisms, according to Joule Biotechnologies, which aims to demonstrate commercial-grade biofuel production by year's end.

A wonder of carbon-based life in all its diversity is that it is assembled from the same basic four elements in our food, water and air: carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen. After biodegrading into fossil fuels, all that remains is the carbon and hydrogen�called hydrocarbons�in various combinations from five to 16 carbon atoms matched to twice as many (plus two) hydrogen atoms (CnH2n+2). Gasoline is five to eight carbons (C5H12 to C8H18), and diesel is nine to 16 carbons (C9H20 to C16H34).

Joule Biotechnologies claims it can re-create hydrocarbon fuels as easily as they can be refined from crude oil by genetically engineering microorganisms to create them. So far, they have tripled the output of biomass reactors with 6,000 gallons of ethanol (C2H6O) per acre per year. With engineering refinements, Joule expects to be generating 25,000 gallons per acre per year of ethanol and 15,000 gallons per acre per year of diesel�10 times the rate of both biomass-derived ethanol and oil-producing algae biofuels.

The company says its microorganisms are not algae, but declines to describe them further, instead referring to them as Helioculture.

"Helioculture technology combines genetic engineering, bioprocessing and a novel SolarConverter system to create the world's first platform for the direct conversion of waste CO2 into solar fuels, including infrastructure-compatible diesel and ethanol," said Bill Sims, president and CEO of Joule Biotechnologies.

Joule Biotechnologies claims that its solar fuels will be price-competitive with fossil fuels, but produced totally in the United States. The company further claims that Helioculture could meet the needs of the entire United States by placing its bioreactor arrays in the empty deserts of the Texas Panhandle�not coincidentally, the location of its first pilot plot in Leander, Texas. Joule Biotechnologies' bioreactor assemblies will be field tested in the desert before commercial deployment in scalable arrays covering hundreds to thousands of acres. Joule Biotechnologies is currently courting major CO2 emitters too, hoping to make their operations green by turning waste CO2 gas into fuel.

Bioreactors contain the microorganisms in a carbon-dioxide-rich nutrient liquid, spread out in shallow transparent trays where direct sunlight can reach them. Unlike genetically engineered algae that create biofuel oils that must be harvested and refined into ethanol or diesel, Joule claims its genetically engineered microorganisms ingest carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) and excrete specific hydrocarbons. Joule claims that it can continuously pull out the hydrocarbon fuel while keeping the microorganisms at their fastest metabolic rate.

Algae biofuel startups are also experimenting with genetically engineered microorganisms, including Synthetic Genomics, which recently announced a $300 million investment by ExxonMobil, and Algenol Biofuels, which recently announced a partnership with Dow.