Production of long chain terminal alcohols through the ‘+1’ pathway: combining enzyme engineering, strain development and fermentation optimization to accelerate development

C4 – C9 alcohols have a wide range of uses including fuels, lubricant additives, plasticizers, corrosion inhibitors and are also precursors to other important chemicals.  Production of these alcohols through petrochemical means can be challenging since existing technologies such as linear alpha oligomerization are not selective.  Production of non-Ziegler alcohols bring additional challenges since odd-chain petrochemical feedstocks are rare.  These challenges present a unique opportunity for the development of a bioprocess to selectively produce C4-C9 alcohols.  The Dow Chemical Company has developed novel enzymes and micro-organisms for selective production of these alcohols through an integrated program using enzyme engineering, metabolic engineering and fermentation optimization.  This presentation will summarize the development of this technology with a specific emphasis on strain construction and fermentation optimization.