Methanol to Liquid Fuel
Technology Description:
The University of Delaware (UD) is engineering new metabolic pathways to convert methane into liquid fuel. UD’s technology targets high-efficiency activation of methane to methanol without the consumption of additional energy, followed by conversion to butanol. The two-stage technology is envisioned to recapture carbon dioxide —with no carbon dioxide emissions. The team will use metabolic engineering and synthetic biology techniques to enable methanol utilization in organisms that are not natively about to do so. This modification will allow the new organism to grow on methanol, and utilize the available energy to produce butanol. Butanol is a high-energy fuel, with chemical and physical properties that are compatible with the current gasoline-based technologies for transportation.
Potential Impact:
If successful, UD’s engineered bioconversion system would produce low-cost, high-energy butanol for transportation.
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:
Prof. Eleftherios Papoutsakis
Press and General Inquiries Email:
ARPA-E-Comms@hq.doe.gov
Project Contact Email:
papoutsakis@dbi.udel.edu
Partners
Industrial Microbes
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Related Projects
Release Date:
03/15/2013