P108: Novel biological conversion of hydrogen and carbon dioxide directly into biodiesel

The next generation of biofuels that are energy dense, infrastructure compatible, and reduce the reliance on foreign petroleum is of increasing importance. To achieve this, OPXBIO is developing an engineered strain of the non-obligate chemolithotrophic bacteria, Cupriavidus necator. The native ability of C.necator to use the non-traditional feedstocks hydrogen (H₂) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) make this organism an attractive choice for the production of products without the requirement for sugar as a fermentation feedstock. The potential to obtain hydrogen and carbon dioxide as renewable feedstocks is also increasing, with significant research being devoted to development of technologies such as gasification of municipal solid waste and solar photovoltaic production of hydrogen.  The engineered strain of C.necator will produce high levels of free fatty acids (FFAs) that will be biologically converted to fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs), which can be used as biodiesel. In addition, through collaboration with Johnson Matthey, these FAMEs will then be catalytically converted to alkanes and jet fuel.  This presentation will highlight our work to date on the metabolic engineering of the host organism, the bench scale H₂- and CO₂- based fermentation development, and the catalytic conversion of FAME to alkanes.