University of Manchester researchers make headway producing bio-based jet fuel using seawater bacteria

October 23, 2019 |

In the UK, researchers from The University of Manchester are using synthetic biology to explore a more efficient way to produce the next generation of bio-based jet fuels – partly made from a type of bacteria that grows in seawater.

Scientists have discovered that the bacteria species called Halomonas, which grows in seawater, provides a viable “microbial chassis” that can be engineered to make high value compounds. This in turn means products like bio-based jet fuel could be made economically using production methods similar to those in the brewery industry and using renewable resources such as seawater and sugar.

The breakthrough behind this approach is the ability to re-engineer the microbe’s genome so to change its metabolism and create different types of high value chemical compounds which could be renewable alternatives to crude oil. Researchers at the world-leading Naval research facilities in China Lake, California, USA, have pioneered this exciting work on converting biological precursors to relevant jet fuels.

Category: Research

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