Iowa State engineers convert bio-oil into advanced biofuels
Microbes are working away in an Iowa State University laboratory
to ferment biofuels from the sugar and acetate produced by
rapidly heating biomass such as corn stalks and sawdust. But
it’s not an easy job for E. coli and C. reinhardtii. The
bacteria and microalgae, respectively, don’t like something in
the bio-oil produced by fast pyrolysis—the rapid heating of
biomass without oxygen and with catalysts. The result of the
thermochemical process is a thick, brown oil that smells like
molasses. A research team led by Laura Jarboe, an Iowa State
assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, is
feeding the bio-oil (also known as “pyrolytic sugars”) to the
microbes. The E. coli are supposed to turn the levoglucosan in
the sugar-rich fraction of bio-oil into ethanol and lactic acid;
the C. reinhardtii are supposed to turn acetate-rich fractions
into lipids for biodiesel. It’s part of the hybrid approach Iowa
State researchers are using to pro