Wednesday, May 4, 2011: 10:30 AM
Grand Ballroom B, 2nd fl (Sheraton Seattle)
Advanced "drop-in" biofuels, derived from sustainable non-food biomass, are different from ethanol in terms of energy density and are compatible with the existing petroleum infrastructure. Several conversion approaches can be used to produce biomass-based hydrocarbons and other advanced biofuels as "drop-in" replacements and/or suitable blendstocks for gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels that would be capable of full integration into the existing fuel infrastructure. Moreover, these advanced biofuels must be suitable for their targeted applications at all levels of performance in order to reach the desired production and consumption levels. An exciting opportunity clearly emerges from the multiple biofuel targets that can be produced by metabolic engineering and synthetic biology – the co-evolution of biofuels and advanced engines that are designed to run efficiently on them to maximize reductions in carbon emissions. For researchers in the field of synthetic biology, it is rarely a question of what can be produced biologically, but rather what type of biofuel should be produced and for what type of engine? This talk will highlight the collaboration between the DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute and Sandia's Combustion Research Facility in the anlysis and testing of a JBEI biofuel target, isopentanol, in a Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition engine. This work demonstrates the importance of establishing a link between the biofuels and engines scientific communities.