Next-Generation Biofuel Additives Biosystems

NEXT-GENERATION BIOFUEL ADDITIVES

BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING

YI WANG

Assistant Professor of Biosystems Engineering 334-844-3503 yzw0066@auburn.edu Website: aub.ie/yzw0066

Auburn University researchers are leading a $2 million U.S. Department of Energy project that promises to improve fuel efficiency and economy. The project will create a bio-based fuel additive that can be blended with diesel fuel to reduce soot and greenhouse gas emissions and yield cleaner engine operation in cold-weather conditions. Joining as collaborators in the research are Cornell University, the University of Alabama, Virginia Tech and corporate partners Microvi Biotech Inc. and EcoEngineers. “We are developing an integrated bioprocess for efficient butyl acetate (BA) production,” said assistant professor Yi Wang, principal investigator for the project. “We anticipate that adding BA to diesel fuel will reduce pollutants and costs associated with meeting environmental regulations.” Butyl acetate is an organic compound that occurs naturally in various fruits and can be used as a flavoring in the food industry and a feedstock in various other industries. BA can be produced chemically. However, traditional petrochemicalbased BA production is energy consuming and not environmentally friendly, Wang said. “In this project, we will further enhance BA production through systematic genome engineering,” he said. “CRISPR technology has been used by many different labs, but we are one of the pioneering labs who have developed the customized CRISPR system that can be applied to the solventogenic clostridial strains, which are notoriously difficult to manipulate genetically. This project represents a complementary and synergistic collaboration between academia and industry. Such efforts will decrease the cost and time required for developing new biotechnologies.” The knowledge generated from this research will be highly applicable to other bioprocesses and of broad interest to the scientific community and industry, he added.