Current biofuel processes and developing approaches close the carbon cycle with sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, but still rely on the fertilizer produced by the Haber-Bosch process. A heretofore unexplored solution to these limitations would be to use proteins as a feedstock. Proteins are the major component of the photosynthesis apparatus, CO2 fixation pathways and other biosynthetic and cell growth machinery. Thus, using proteins as feedstock might maximize growth and CO2 fixation rates. Proteins have not been used to synthesize fuels because of the difficulties of deaminating protein hydrolysates. In this study, we apply metabolic engineering to generate Escherichia coli that can deaminate protein hydrolysates, enabling the cells to convert proteins to C4 and C5 alcohols at 56% of the theoretical yield. We show that common fast growing species can be used as protein sources, producing up to 4,035 mg/l of alcohols from biomass containing ~22 g/l of amino acids. 

Conversion of proteins into biofuels: Toward nitrogen neutral biofuel production

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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