Japanese researchers boost bio-acetone production with new bacteria strain

In Japan, acetone, a volatile solvent used for everything from removing nail polish and cleaning textiles to manufacturing plastics, could get a sustainability boost from a new strain of bacteria engineered by a research team based in Japan. 

Researchers from Hiroshima University published the details of the heat-loving, acetone-producing bacteria called Moorella thermoacetica on April 23 in AMB Express.

The bacteria, M. thermoacetica, eat the gaseous feedstocks of hydrogen, carbon dioxide and monoxide—which can be procured from renewable resources—to produce acetone. Since they grow at a temperature higher than the boiling point of acetone, the acetone produced is a gas that evaporates and can be distilled as the bacteria make it. It streamlines the traditional system into a simultaneous process.