Bug-based biofuel

The start-up biofuels company LS9, of San Carlos, CA, is using synthetic biology to engineer bacteria that can make hydrocarbons for gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. Its goal is to create designer bugs that produce and excrete hydrocarbons. LS9 Renewable Petroleum biofuel will be clean burning, carbon neutral, and has the potential to provide for a large portion of our long term energy needs.

Derived from diverse agricultural feedstocks, these new fuels will be compatible with current distribution and consumer infrastructure - unlike ethanol. The production process is also much simpler than producing conventional ethanol, and requires 65% less energy: while ethanol needs to be distilled at high temperatures, Renewable Petroleum gently floats to the surface of the reaction vats in which it's produced.

The company has $5 million in funding from Khosla Ventures, the venture capital firm of Vinod Khosla, founder of Sun Microsystems and passionate biofuel evangelist. LS9 CEO Noubar Afeyan cautions that no one can tell the extent to which any biofuel will displace fossil fuels. "That is a subject of great debate and great prognostication," he says. "The opportunity is so large that I don't have to believe in much more than a few percentage points of market penetration for it to be worth our investment."

If all goes to plan, LS9 fuels may be available as early as 2011.

Via: Technology Review