Organization Name: Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)
Project Title: Development of Rhodobacter as a Versatile Platform for Fuels Production

Penn State is genetically engineering bacteria called Rhodobacter to use electricity or electrically generated hydrogen to convert carbon dioxide into liquid fuels. In collaboration with the University of Kentucky, Penn State is taking genes from oil-producing algae called Botryococcus braunii and putting them into Rhodobacter to produce hydrocarbon molecules, which closely resemble gasoline. Penn State is developing engineered tanks to support microbial fuel production and determining the most economical way to feed the electricity or hydrogen to the bacteria, including using renewable sources of power like solar energy.

Project Factsheet (PDF 270KB)

Electrofuels - Projects

• Columbia University: Biofuels from Bacteria, Electricity, and CO2
• Ginkgo Bioworks: Biofuels from E. Coli
• Harvard: Fuel from Bacteria, CO2, Water, and Solar Energy
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: Turning Bacteria into Biofuel
• MIT: Natural Oil Production from Microorganisms 
• MIT: Liquid Fuel From Bacteria 
• MUSC: Liquid Fuel From Microbial Communities 
• North Carolina State University: Liquid Fuel from Heat-Loving Microorganisms 
• OPX Biotechnologies, Inc.: Engineering Bacteria for Efficient Fuel Production
• Pennsylvania State University: Genetically Modified Bacteria for Fuel Production
• The Ohio State University: Fuel from Bacteria
• UCLA: Liquid Fuel From Renewable Electricity and Bacteria
• UMASS Amherst: Biofuels from Solar Energy and Bacteria