Another Microbe to Save the Cellulosic Ethanol Industry..

Qteros, a lab based in Massachusetts, has achieved historic efficiencies in our one-step, biomass-to-ethanol conversion process. They have now identified a bacterium which can very easily digest the waste biomass and convert it into rapid ethanol.Research is underway to furthermake their cellulosic ethanol production economically viable and environmentally sustainable.

The Qteros scientist believes that, by using this amazing microbe, one can get 70 grams of ethanol per litre of the fermentation broth in a single- step. This is quite effective on the cellulosic biomass feedstocks which are industrially pretreated.

Clostridium phytofermentans, more popularly known as the Q microbe is believed to have brought the most economical way to derive biofuels from cellulosic biomass. The Q Microbe (Clostridium phytofermentans) was discovered approximately 12 years ago in Massachusetts’ Quabbin Reservoir by a University of Massachusetts research team led by Susan Leschine, a microbiologist at the university. It was collected in a sample for another survey and its potential was not realized until about eight years later.

Why is this microbe different from other enzymes, which are already being used in the Cellulsic Ethanol industry ?

1. People might arise questions such as to why this is better than enzymes, the answer is, it , unlike the enzymes digests the cellulosic biomass in a single step while the enzymes undergo a multi-step process to digest these waste. Enzymatic hydrolysis is considered to be the most cost-effective way to make the biofuel, and the Q Microbe is expected to be cheaper to use than other enzymes because it can do its work naturally in one step, whereas other enzymes undergo multiple steps to break-down the sugar molecules.

2.The Q microbe can digest switchgrass, corn stover, wheat straw, sugar cane bagasse, and wood pulp. It generates its own enzymes thereby fermenting the C5 and C6 sugars. Also, the Q Microbe so far has been effective with almost all biomass, while other enzymes only work on particular substances.


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