Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Thursday, June 30, 2011

E.coli seen spawning biofuel in five years

Reuters Africa
Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:20am GMT
By Sarah McBride

* Scientist: Technology works, but not yet at scale
* Biofuels won't be at critical mass for two decades
* Plastics based on e.coli already for sale

ASPEN, Colorado, June 28 (Reuters) - The bacteria behind food poisoning worldwide, the mighty e.coli, could be turned into a commercially available biofuel in five years, a U.S. scientist told technology industry and government leaders on Tuesday.

Several companies are working on the technology, which has been proven in laboratories but is not yet yielding enough fuel to be commercially viable, scientist Jay Keasling told the Aspen Ideas Festival on Tuesday.

Keasling, chief executive officer of the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint BioEnergy Institute, has pioneered research in biofuels based on substances ranging from yeast to e.coli and expects e.coli fuel production to improve.

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