Organization Name: Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)
Project Title: Electroalcoholgenesis: Bioelectrochemical Reduction of CO₂ to Butanol

MUSC is developing an engineered system to create liquid fuels from communities of interdependent microorganisms. MUSC is first pumping carbon dioxide (CO₂) and renewable sources of electricity into a battery-like cell. A community of microorganisms uses the electricity to convert the CO₂ into hydrogen. That hydrogen is then consumed by another community of microorganisms living in the same system. These new microorganisms convert the hydrogen into acetate, which in turn feed yet another community of microorganisms. This last community of microorganisms uses the acetate to produce a liquid biofuel called butanol. Similar interdependent microbial communities can be found in some natural environments, but they’ve never been coupled together in an engineered cell to produce liquid fuels. MUSC is working to triple the amount of butanol that can be produced in its system and to reduce the overall cost of the process.

Project Factsheet (PDF 288KB)

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