Innovative conversion of biodiesel-glycerol to butanol as a biofuel

化石燃料的枯竭使得寻找替代能源或可再生能源变得更加迫切。虽然几种可再生能源形式，如乙醇，氢气和生物柴油，已经证明了它们的应用潜力，但丁醇在这方面开始受到更多的关注。与作为普通汽油补充剂的甲醇或乙醇相比，丁醇含有更多的碳含量，具有更高的能量含量，并且操作更安全，腐蚀性更小。与汽油相比，丁醇具有大致相同的能量含量和燃料效率，但更环保。由于CN25具有高十六烷值，丁醇可以与石油柴油或生物柴油混合，以降低凝胶温度点和粘度。目前，丁醇主要通过石化加工生产。针对最近油价飙升，如果找到更便宜的原料并提高生物转化产率和生产力，生物途径将变得更具竞争力。由于认识到丁醇作为一种有前途的替代能源的重要性，英国石油公司和杜邦公司最近成立了一家合资企业，在英国大规模生产生物丁醇。生物丁醇通常被认为是使用厌氧微生物（如丙酮丁醇梭菌和丁酸梭菌等）进行ABE（丙酮、丁醇和乙醇）发酵的主要代谢产物之一。这些严格的厌氧细菌具有特定的代谢途径，用于降解多种碳源以驱动溶剂生产。同时产生氢气的可能性也可以提高能量产量。随着生物技术和生物加工的最新进展，丁醇重新引起了人们的兴趣。在拟议的研究中，我们将开发通过ABE发酵生产丁醇的创新生物工艺策略，包括菌株构建，生物反应器系统和丁醇回收，并进行经济分析，以评估所开发的生物工艺的可行性。

The depletion of fossil fuels makes the search of alternative or renewable energy sources more imperative. While several renewable energy forms, such as ethanol, hydrogen, and biodiesel, have demonstrated their applicative potential, butanol starts to gain more attention in this aspect. Compared to methanol or ethanol as a common gasoline supplement, butanol contains more carbon content, has a higher energy content, and is safer to handle and less corrosive. Compared to gasoline, butanol has approximately the same energy content and fuel efficiency but is more environmentally friendly. With a high cetane number of CN25, butanol can be blended with petrodiesel or biodiesel to reduce the gel temperature point and the viscosity. Currently, butanol is produced primarily via petrochemical processing. In response to the recently soaring oil price, the biological route can become more competitive if cheaper feedstock is identified and biotransformation yield andproductivity are enhanced. Recognizing the importance of butanol as a promising alternative energy, a joint venture between British Petroleum and DuPont was recently initiated for the large-scale production of biobutanol in UK. Biobutanol is often referred as one of the major metabolites of ABE (acetone, butanol, and ethanol) fermentation using an anaerobe, such as Clostridium acetobutylicum and Clostridium butyricum, etc. These strict anaerobic bacteria have specific metabolic pathways for degradation of a wide variety of carbon sources to drive solvent production. The possibility of simultaneous hydrogen generation can also improve energy yield. With recent advances in biotechnology and bioprocessing, butanol has gained a renewed interest. In the proposed research, we will develop innovative bioprocess strategies for butanol production via ABEfermentation, including strain construction, bioreactor system, and butanol recovery, and conduct economic analysis to evaluate the feasibility of the developed bioprocess.