Aug 2, 2007

In the ever vigilant quest to reduce our need upon the crude resources of the Middle East, scientists and researcher constantly strive to find alternatives to oil, gasoline, and all of the byproducts therein. But for a small biotech startup to announce that simple bacteria may be capable of making gasoline, it seems to be a steep in a whole different direction.

LS9 is a small biotech firm situated in San Carlos, California, founded by George Church of Harvard Medical School and Chris Somerville. They have been working on what they call renewable petroleum. The basis for their research stems from an announcement they had made to the Soceity for Industrial Microbiology on Monday. They said that through the genetic manulaption of various bacteium, including E. coli bacteriaa, they were able to have these simple and abundant organisms grow custom produced chains of hydrocarbons.

Through the employment of tools used in the field of synthetic biology, they were able to augment the genetic pathways of bacteria, plants, and animals to change the structure of an organisms fatty acids. Fatty acids are complex chains of hydrogen and carbon that allow plants and animals (and humans) store energy. The main ingredent of such is carboxylic acid. It is to the carbooxylic acid that hydrocarbon molecules attach themselves. By removing the carboxylic acid, we are than left with our hydrocarbon, which could have been initially engineered to mimic the hydrocarbon structure of oil or gasoline, awaiting further refinement and processing. 

“I am very impressed with what they’re doing,” said James Collins, co-director of the Center of Advanced Biotechnology at Boston University. He had also called the company’s use of synthetic biology and systems biology to engineer hydrocarbon-producing bacteria “cutting edge.”

In some the instances of bacterial gene manipulation, LS9 researchers used the standard recombinant DNA techniques to insert extra genes into the microbes. In some other cases, they redesigned known genes with a computer and then synthesized them. The result was a type of modified bacteria that could make and excrete hydrocarbon molecules that are the length and molecular structure the company desires.

Stephen del Cardayre, a biochemist and LS9’s vice president for research and development, says the company can make hundreds of different hydrocarbon molecules. One great advantage of this method is how they can produce a type of crude oil without the contaminating sulfur compounds that much petroleum out of the ground contains. This pure crude would then in turn be sent to a standard refinery to be processed into automotive fuel, jet fuel, diesel fuel, or any other petroleum product that someone wanted to make. That would include plastics.

Next year LS9 will begin construction on a pilot plant in California to further test and perfect the process, hopeful that they will soon be selling improved biodiesel and providing synthetic bio-crudes to refineries for further processing and distribution. The time line for such is on the scale of three to five years.

And as with any development in the realm of science and technology, another biotech firm is hard at work developing their own bacterium based biofeul. Amyris Biotechnologies of Emeryville, CA, is also using the genes from plants and animals to grow microbes that would produce designer fuels. Neil Renninger, senior vice president of development and Amyris cofounder, says that Amyris has also created bacteria that is capable of supplying renewable hydrocarbon-based fuels to an oil hungry market. The main difference between the companies, Renninger says, is that while LS9 is working on a bio-crude that would require further processed at a refinery, Amyris is working on directly producing fuels that would need little or no further processing.

And I thought that we as a species (human beings that is) were supposed to be moving away from petroleum based fuel sources, opting in favor for the renewable energy resources of solar, wind, and hydroelectric. Growing gasoline is pretty interesting, but still presents the complication of continued Carbon Dioxide emissions. And it’s not like we actually have less than twenty years worth of oil reserves left on this planet. The Tar/Oil Sands surrounding Fort McMurrary in northern Alberta, Canada, they have enough oil to last the entire planet 300 years at our present rate of consumption. Unfortunately, it’s kinda hard to extract since it’s all mixed up with sand and rocks. Just remember; back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, there was an ocean where central Canada was located.