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Biofuels

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Book cover The Prokaryotes

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Abstract

Increasing pressure to move towards energy sustainability and reduce society’s dependence on fossil fuels has led to much research and development in the area of biofuels. First-generation biofuel production (e.g., ethanol from corn) is a mature technology, but competition with food crops raises questions about sustainability. Second-generation biofuels are produced from waste biomass and thus are perceived as more viable, but technology is not ready for large-scale implementation particularly due to the hydrolysis challenge. The third generation of biofuels captures sunlight directly as fuels or fuel precursors via photosynthesis. Prokaryotic organisms play a crucial role in the majority of the processes involved in biofuel production. Pure culture bioproduction includes ethanol from Zymomonas mobilis, modified Escherichia coli, and Clostridia. However, pure cultures are only efficient at the conversion of sugary biomass, not lignocellulosic biomass. They have thus limited applicability towards second-generation biofuel production.  Pure culture prokaryotic biodiesel production is also being investigated (mostly using cyanobacteria). However, similarly to eukaryotic biodiesel production, energy efficiencies are still poor. Mixed culture production is thus far the most successful process at converting complex waste biomass to usable fuels, mainly methane through anaerobic digestion, which is perceived by many as the biofuel technology with highest potential.

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Acknowledgements

SF, BV, and KR are supported by Australian Research Council grants, LP100200223, and DP0985000, respectively. BV is supported by an Early Career Researcher grant (The University of Queensland). KR acknowledges support by the MRP “biotechnology for a sustainable economy” (Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds, Ghent University), ARC DP0879245, and CSIRO Energy Transformed Flagship Cluster.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Advanced Water Management Centre, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Stefano Freguia, Bernardino Virdis & Dr. Korneel Rabaey

  2. Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, Ghent, Belgium

    Dr. Korneel Rabaey

Authors
  1. Stefano Freguia
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  2. Bernardino Virdis
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  3. Dr. Korneel Rabaey
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Correspondence to Stefano Freguia .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Eugene Rosenberg

  2. Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Edward F. DeLong

  3. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Stephen Lory

  4. Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig, Germany

    Erko Stackebrandt

  5. Laboratory of Microbiology, Institute of Biology, Center for Health Sciences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Fabiano Thompson

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Freguia, S., Virdis, B., Rabaey, K. (2013). Biofuels. In: Rosenberg, E., DeLong, E.F., Lory, S., Stackebrandt, E., Thompson, F. (eds) The Prokaryotes. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31331-8_33

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