Production of advanced biodiesel using renewable feedstocks

The use of microbes to convert carbohydrates to various types of substances has its origin in the millennia-old ethanol fermentation by yeast. The conversion of renewable carbohydrate such as molasses, cellulosic and hemicellulosic material as well as starches in algae hydrolyzates to biodiesel is very attractive alternative to feedstocks which competes with human food. The use of metabolic engineering to genetically alter properties of non-algae oil producing microbes is a cost-competitive process to produce biodiesel provided the yield of conversion can be maximized, which determines the feedstock cost and ultimately the total manufacturing cost. The microbial approach allows the development of "second-generation" biofuels, or liquid fuels produced from renewable sources of biomass. Promethegen Corporation is a new biotechnology company that uses metabolic engineering to develop technologies for the production of liquid fuels using cellulosic and non-cellulosic biofuels. The approach to convert sugars to oil differ from algae oil since the latter faces engineering challenges such as how to supply light economically to the huge volumes of algal biomass that must be grown in a realistic commercial process.