Ethylene-to-Butanol

Default ARPA-E Project Image

Program:
REMOTE
Award:
$1,500,000
Location:
Davis, California
Status:
ALUMNI
Project Term:
01/07/2014 - 09/30/2017
Website:

Technology Description:

The University of California, Davis (UC Davis) will engineer new biological pathways for bacteria to convert ethylene to a liquid fuel. Currently, ethylene is readily available and used by the chemicals and plastics industries to produce a wide range of useful products, but it cannot be cost-effectively converted to a liquid fuel like butanol, an alcohol that can be used directly as part of a fuel blend. UC Davis is addressing this problem with synthetic biology and protein engineering. The team will engineer ethylene assimilation pathways into a host organism and use that organism to convert ethylene into n-butanol, an important platform chemical with broad applications in many chemical and fuel markets. This technology could provide a transformative route from methane to liquid biofuels that is more efficient than ones found in nature.

Potential Impact:

If successful, UC Davis’ new biocatalyst would enable cost-effective conversion of ethylene into an existing infrastructure-compatible fuel.

Security:

An improved bioconversion process could create cost-competitive liquid fuels significantly reducing demand for foreign oil.

Environment:

This technology would allow for utilization of small-scale remote natural gas resources or methane and carbon rich gas residues for fuel production reducing harmful emissions associated with conventional fuel technologies.

Economy:

Expanding U.S. natural gas resources via bioconversion to liquid fuels could contribute tens of billions of dollars to the nation's economy while reducing or stabilizing transport fuel prices.

Contact

ARPA-E Program Director:
Dr. Marc von Keitz
Project Contact:
Dr. Shota Atsumi
Press and General Inquiries Email:
ARPA-E-Comms@hq.doe.gov
Project Contact Email:
satsumi@ucdavis.edu

Related Projects

• Arzeda - Metalloenzymes for Methane Activation
• Calysta Energy - Bioreactor Designs for Rapid Fermentation
• Coskata - Methanol Fermentation in Clostridium Bacteria
• GreenLight Biosciences - Cell-Free Bioconversion of Natural Gas
• LanzaTech - Bioreactor with Improved Methane Transfer
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) - Enzymes for Methane Conversion
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Single-Step Methane to Liquid Fuels
• MOgene Green Chemicals - Sunlight-Assisted Methane Conversion
• Northwestern University - New Synthetic Catalysts for Methane Activation
• Oregon State University (OSU) - Bioreactor Using Ultra-Thin Plates
• Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) - Methane-to-Acetate
• University of California, Davis (UC Davis) - Ethylene-to-Butanol
• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Synthetic Pathway for Methanol Conversion
• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Renewable Production of Commodity Chemicals
• University of Delaware (UD) - Methanol to Liquid Fuel
• University of Michigan - Methane-to-Methanol

Release Date:
03/15/2013