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The production of butanol by biological means was first performed by Louis Pasteur in 1861. [5] In 1905, Austrian biochemist Franz Schardinger found that acetone could similarly be produced. [5] In 1910 Auguste Fernbach (1860–1939) developed a bacterial fermentation process using potato starch as a feedstock in the production of butanol. [6]
Solventogenesis is the biochemical production of solvents (usually acetone and butanol) by Clostridium species. [1] It is the second phase of ABE fermentation. [2] This figure shows acidogenic and solventogenic phases of ABE fermentation by solventogenic Clostridium species.
Butanol (also called butyl alcohol) is a four-carbon alcohol with a formula of C 4 H 9 O H, which occurs in five isomeric structures (four structural isomers), from a straight-chain primary alcohol to a branched-chain tertiary alcohol; [1] all are a butyl or isobutyl group linked to a hydroxyl group (sometimes represented as BuOH, sec-BuOH, i-BuOH, and t-BuOH).
In this process, a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide, known as syngas, is used as carbon and energy sources, and then converted into fuel and chemicals by microorganisms. [ 1 ] The main products of syngas fermentation include ethanol , butanol , acetic acid , butyric acid , and methane . [ 2 ]
In 2008, a strain of Escherichia coli was genetically engineered to synthesize butanol; the genes were derived from Clostridium acetobutylicum. [1] [2] In 2013, the first microbial production of short-chain alkanes was reported [3] - which is a considerable step toward the production of gasoline.
Glycerol is a good alternative source for butanol production. While glucose sources are valuable and limited, glycerol is abundant and has a low market price because it is a waste product of biodiesel production. Butanol production from glycerol is economically viable using metabolic pathways that exist in the bacterium Clostridium pasteurianum ...
The more popular methods for production of ethanol and cellulosic ethanol use enzymes that must be isolated first to be added to the biomass and thus convert the starch or cellulose into simple sugars, followed then by yeast fermentation into ethanol. This process does not need the addition of such enzymes as these microorganisms make their own ...
The company Energy Environment International developed a method for producing butanol from biomass, which involves the use of two separate micro-organisms in sequence to minimize production of acetone and ethanol byproducts. [12] The Swiss company Butalco GmbH uses a special technology to modify yeasts in order to produce butanol instead of ...