EDITORIAL

Editorial biofuel: The butanol perspective and algal biofuel

Vedpal Singh Malik

Received: 27 June 2014 /Accepted: 14 July 2014 /Published online: 12 September 2014# Society for Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology 2014

Abbreviations

BF BiofuelB ButanolY YeastC ClostridiumAF Algal bioDieselDHA Omega-3 Docosahexaenoic AcidRuBisCORUBISCO Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate

carboxylase/oxygenase

Nowadays, there is renaissance of attention in solventogenicClostridium to produce biobutanol that can be used as a fuel inan internal combustion engine designed for use with gasolinewithout modification. Because its longer hydrocarbon chain, ithas more energy than ethanol per unit volume. In 1916 duringWorld War I, Chaim Weizmann, a disciple of Louis Pasteurand first President of Israel, produced Acetone-Butanol fromstarch by fermenting Clostridium acetobutylicum for makingof Cordite gun powder. This process was discontinued whenbutanol could be made from petroleum much cheaper with $2per barrel crude.

Existing bioethanol plants can be adapted to biobutanolproduction using the same raw material. It is less corro-sive and therefore can be transported over pipes. Because,ethanol can only be blend up to 15 % in petrol, there isoften surplus of ethanol in the market. Much higheramount of butanol can be used.

Metabolic engineering may allow bacterium to consume acheaper substrate such as glycerol which is waste product ofbiodiesel production. Mixture of succinate and ethanol can be

fermented to produce butyrate by Clostridium acetobutylicumand Clostridium saccharobutylicum. Succinate is reduced by atwo-step reaction to give 4-hydroxybutyrate, which is proc-essed to crotonyl-coenzyme A (CoA) and then butyrate. Thegenes corresponding to these butanol production pathwaysfrom Clostridium were cloned to E. coli.

Sang Yup Lee of KAIST, Dr. Do Young Seung ofGS Caltex, a large oil refining company in Korea, andYu-Sin Jang at BioFuelChem, Korea, have engineeredClostridium acetobutylicum that excretes more than585 g of butanol from 1.8 kg of glucose. DuPont andBP have a joint effort to make biobutanol and marketnext-generation biofuels. The Swiss company Butalcois engineering yeasts for the production of biobutanolfrom cellulosic materials. The US Company, GourmetButanol, is exploring fungi to convert organic wasteinto biobutanol. The art of yeast fermentation is wellestablished and it is already used to accumulate about18 % ethanol from starch and molasses. Cellulosicethanol from biomass that pollutes waterways usingyeast is intriguing specially to provide rural employ-ment. For this process to be successful the cost ofcellulase that converts cellulose to fermentable sugarsshould be decreased by engineering cellulase. Engi-neering Saccharomyces cerevisiae with butanol path-way may eradicate the formation of byproducts acetoneand ethanol and thus increase butanol yield.

Algal butanol, called Solalgal, in low yield is producedexclusively with solar energy and nutrients and has possibil-ities. By exhaustingmolecular biology and chemical engineer-ing competencies, Solazyme’s proprietary know-how exploitsmicroalgae’s prolific oil production capabilities to cost-effectively produce high-value designer oils. Solazyme in ajoint venture with Bunge Global Innovation LLC alreadycreates oil and encapsulated lubricant, Encapso™. SolazymeBunge Renewable Oils plant industrialized products at three

V. S. Malik (*)USDA, 4700 River Road, Riverdale, MD 20737, USAe-mail: vedpalm@gmail.com

J. Plant Biochem. Biotechnol. (October–December 2014) 23(4):337–338DOI 10.1007/s13562-014-0283-5

large scale facilities, including 2,000 MT/year integrated fa-cility in Peoria, the 20,000 MT/year Iowa facilities in Clinton/Galva and the 100,000 MT/year facility in Brazil. Solazymemicroalgae are heterotrophic that grow in the dark in fermen-ters by utilizing plant sugars. Unilever to Buy Oil DerivedFrom Algae From Solazyme.

Unilever has contracted to purchase three million gallons ofthe algae-produced oil from Solazyme for use in personal careproducts such as Dove and Brylcreem. Motivation ofSolazyme is to make oils for products with greater revenuefor use in cosmetics, food and petrochemicals. Solazyme willsell to Sephora its Algenist line of Anti-Aging moisturizers forcosmetics for skincare and makeup products. The same strainsof algae may make petroleum surrogates at industrial scale. Ina joint effort, Solazyme, Inc. and Propel Fuels started sellingAlgae derived biodiesel at a Valero station in Redwood City,California. Synthetic Genomics Inc. and Archer Daniels Mid-l a n d Company w i l l c omme r c i a l i z e Omeg a - 3Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) from algae for humans andanimal feed. The program will be executed by SGI’s GenoviaBio business unit, leading producers of algal bio-based food,chemical, and fuel products that has a research and develop-ment and phototrophic algae production facility in Calipatria,California near the Salton Sea.

Tel Aviv-based Seambiotic and Seattle-based InventureChemical in a joint venture plan to use CO2 emissions-fed

algae to make ethanol and biodiesel at a biofuel plant inAshkelon, Israel . In Australia, Bio Fuels Pty Ltd (AVictorSmorgon Group company) is developing algae biofuels inVictoria for use into BioMax biodiesel produced bySmorgon Fuels. Another Australian Company is Algae.Tec developing algae technology to produce bio dieseland green jet fuel.

Biofuels for aviation are starting to look promising Forinstance, Policies of the state government of Minas Geraisin Brazil are encouraging the cultivation, extraction andprocessing of the native macaw palm (Acrocomiaaculeata) as viable cradle of oil for producing biokerosene.Macaw palm can yield up to 6,200 kilograms of oil perhectare while sequestering 4–5 times more carbon thanEucalyptus camaldulensis. Macaw palms oil could exceedglobal palm-oil market without compromizing foodproductionor natural ecosystems

Algal Biodiversity should be exploited to produce productsfor social consumption. Wild type algae should be screenedfor secretion of various fatty acids specially hydroxyl acids,protein content and superior Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphatecarboxylase/oxygenase, (RuBisCORUBISCO) for engineer-ing into crop plants. The application of recombinant DNAtechnology to industrial algae is already happening. The paceof mind boggling technology is fast and opportunities are onlylimited by imagination.

338 J. Plant Biochem. Biotechnol. (October–December 2014) 23(4):337–338