The Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference, Day 3: What Would You Say You Do Here?

by Will Dalen Rice (Earth Science Erratics) ...The final day of the conference was all about being “feedstock agnostic” in terms of what you give to your genetically engineered, “proprietary organisms.” This was the really cool day where they all talked about what their companies actually did. Some companies were turning biomass into sugars (which I think then gets turned into oils, either by chemical rearrangement or possibly by feeding them to something else). Some companies were growing algae, which can then be turned into biofuel. And still other companies were going straight to oils, using special bacteria that would take a feedstock and secrete oil in response to it. It seemed like they all had bench-top proven technology. The devil was going to be how to make millions of gallons of their product on vastly larger scales. They all had plans and they all had pilot facilities in the making. It was very exciting and the anticipation for what the future will hold was high.
...The advances in cell-level and genetic modifications have flung open the gate for some enormous opportunity. My favorite presentation was by the group who have moved even further beyond genetic engineering. They had taken to selectively evolving their microbes by applying environmental pressures and then breeding generation upon generations. This blows my mind, and at the same time give me so much hope. Drilling for oil seems so antiquated in terms of what it takes. More difficult oil just takes more risk, more brute force, and more strength in terms of technology to combat the forces of physics. READ MORE Part 1 Part 2