E. coli Can Be Used To Produce Diesel : Researchers Say

Escherichia coli or E. coli are a group of bacteria that have a bad reputation of causing diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory illness and pneumonia, and other illnesses. However, a study team from University of Exeter has found a way to get these bugs to produce diesel on demand.

Now the good news is that the diesel is almost identical to the commercially available diesel, meaning that engines, pipelines and tankers don't need to be modified, and this new E. coli-derived diesel can be used alongside the conventional diesel.

"Producing a commercial biofuel that can be used without needing to modify vehicles has been the goal of this project from the outset. Replacing conventional diesel with a carbon neutral biofuel in commercial volumes would be a tremendous step towards meeting our target of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Global demand for energy is rising and a fuel that is independent of both global oil price fluctuations and political instability is an increasingly attractive prospect," said professor John Love from Biosciences at the University of Exeter.

However, the technology to make this kind of diesel faces many commercialization challenges.

The bacteria, E. coli, can convert sugars into fats. Researchers said that this oil production pathway can be used to make oil on a large scale. Currently, the bacteria are used as a catalyst to accelerate the rate of certain chemical reactions in the pharmaceutical industry. Researchers are now trying to find a pathway that can be commercially feasible.

Back in 2011, a team of researchers from Stanford had found that E. coli could be used to make biofuel from relatively inexpensive sugars.

The present study team's work is supported by Shell Research Ltd and a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Industry Interchange Partnership Grant.

"While the technology still faces several hurdles to commercialisation, by exploring this new method of creating biofuel, along with other intelligent technologies, we hope they could help us to meet the challenges of limiting the rise in carbon dioxide emissions while responding to the growing global requirement for transport fuel," Rob Lee from Shell Projects & Technology said in a news release.