The Technology

Due to the volatile nature of the petroleum market as well as its limited supply, there is increasing interest in alternative fuel sources. While a great deal of research has been performed on ethanol based fuels, novel sources of hydrocarbon chains that can be used as drop-in biofuel sources with existing infrastructure offers a novel alternative. Researchers at the University of Tennessee have developed a method of producing alkanes of various lengths (hydrocarbons suitable for fuel) in yeast. These yeast cells contain genes that can continuously output alkanes, and these alkanes can in turn be mixed in with fuels or further modified to produce hydrocarbons of other hydrocarbon chain length. These hydrocarbons could be used for gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. As the yeast genetic system has been very well characterized, it is fairly simple to introduce other genetic modifications if so desired. Unlike using genetically modified plants (corn, etc.) as a fuel source, this mechanism poses no risk for contamination of our food supply.

Applications

•      Can be used as a drop-in fuel source.

Benefits

•      Does not require genetic modification of plants that could get into food supply

•      Highly scalable

•      Can be used with existing fuel infrastructure

Patents

•      Patent pending

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