Abstract
The use of gas fermentation for the production of low carbon biofuels such as ethanol or butanol from lignocellulosic biomass is an area currently undergoing intensive research and development, with the first commercial units expected to commence operation in the near future. In this process, biomass is first converted into carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2)-rich synthesis gas (syngas) via gasification, and subsequently fermented to hydrocarbons by acetogenic bacteria. Several studies have been performed over the last few years to optimise both biomass gasification and syngas fermentation with significant progress being reported in both areas. While challenges associated with the scale-up and operation of this novel process remain, this strategy offers numerous advantages compared with established fermentation and purely thermochemical approaches to biofuel production in terms of feedstock flexibility and production cost. In recent times, metabolic engineering and synthetic biology techniques have been applied to gas fermenting organisms, paving the way for gases to be used as the feedstock for the commercial production of increasingly energy dense fuels and more valuable chemicals.
Highlights
Rising demand for transportation fuels and diminishing reserves of fossil-based fuel sources, coupled with concerns over carbon dioxide (CO2) emission-driven climate change have led to a compelling need for new, more sustainable energy sources [1]
It was concluded that these results demonstrate that acetogens can be used for the production of pyruvate derived products such as 23BD
Biomass is gasified into syngas which is fermented by acetogenic bacteria
Summary
Rising demand for transportation fuels and diminishing reserves of fossil-based fuel sources, coupled with concerns over carbon dioxide (CO2) emission-driven climate change have led to a compelling need for new, more sustainable energy sources [1]. It is argued that first generation biofuels may not be a solution to the climate crisis, as they increase total demand for agricultural land and result in the release of carbon from carbon sinks [10], and lead to rising nitrous oxide emissions through increased use of nitrogen fertilisers [11,12] These production technologies are limited in their ability to provide energy security for the majority of nations. Lignocellulosic biomass can be sourced from waste products such as forestry residues These second-generation biofuels may still compete with food for other agricultural inputs such as water, and could potentially continue to threaten food security, technologies that do not use extensive monocultures will likely not pose this problem [6]. Gas fermentation combines strategies from both approaches and in this sense can be considered a hybrid [27,28]
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