The offspring of Jay Keasling’s synthetic biology research and vision, Emeryville, CA-based Amyris Biotechnologies has made a double impact. First, the company, with more than $40 million of backing from the Bill Gates’ Institute for One World Health charity, developed a microbial route to the anti-malarial compound artemisinin. In and of itself this work was a stunningly successful scientific achievement, and the resulting process has been licensed to Sanofi-Aventis for low-cost manufacturing and distribution in the third world.

But how does that relate to biofuels? Well, producing the anti-malarial drug relied on the engineering of a metabolic pathway to produce a key intermediate that is in the class of chemicals called terpenes. Chemically, terpenes are hydrocarbons, similar to diesel or gasoline, and are therefore very good fuel compounds. Thus, the same basic science that led to artemisinin can be applied, with appropriate tweaking, to produce fuels based on terpenes. And according to the company, a desired fuel compound can be selected based on its properties (flash point, cloud point, boiling point, density, fuel value, etc), and then the pathway to produce it can be designed. Voila! You have a designer fuel. And being hydrocarbons with properties similar to gasoline, terpenes do not suffer from the limitations that alcohols (particularly ethanol) have as fuels. If you want to put something into your gas tank or jet engine, a designer hydrocarbon is likely to be superior to any alcohol. At least that is what Amyris argues.

Amyris has the backing of a well-heeled group of VCs: Kleiner Perkins, TPG Biotech, and DAG Ventures. In the area of bio-based production of gasoline-like fuels, Amyris is at the head of the class. Economics remain to be proven, but Amyris has formed a joint venture with the second largest Brazilian sugar producer, Crystalsev, to get access to inexpensive sugar feedstock, and the first demonstration plant is scheduled to be built right on the sugar plantation in Brazil by 2010. It will produce a biodiesel (with the interesting name of “No CompromiseTM”), currently being piloted at Amyris’ Emerville facility. Amyris promises that a bio-gasoline and a bio-aviation fuel are not far behind. If any company can make terpene-based fuels successfully, Amyris appears to be that company.

The use of ethanol as an alternative fuel is becoming increasingly popular by ever conscious consumers wishing to do their little bit for the planet. It may even be a better alternative to bio fuel, it seems that it is a lot more pleasant to make at any rate.

What is Ethanol? Ethanol is a grain alcohol, or plant mass formula derived from the natural sugars found in bio mass, or vegetation such as corn, wheat, barley, potatoes and sugar cane. This is then processed to make a renewable form of fuel or fuel additive, which is both cost effective and good for the planet. Many cars are able to run on Ethanol and gasoline mixtures. Although at the moment, the mixtures are only a ratio of 10% Ethanol, to 90% fossil fuel.

Benefits of Ethanol

There are many benefits of using an alternative fuel such as Ethanol, for starters it is a renewable resource, fossil fuels used to make gasoline is not renewable, so one day they will run out, it is because of this that people, have become more aware of alternative fuels and additives. Another good reason for using an alternative fuel such as Ethanol is the reduction of pollution, we only have one planet and if we keep polluting it we may very well find ourselves with nowhere to live. Any steps that we can make toward reducing pollution is a positive. Another good reason to consider a fuel alternative such as Ethanol is that it is far more cheaper to use and make, the main cost involved in making Ethanol is in the processing method.

How is Ethanol Produced?

The process used consists of 8 stages, corn is the main product used in this method,
Milling the corn, to make it into a fine powder, or meal Liquification, which is mixing the meal with water and Alpha-amylase, then heating it at temperatures of 120-150 deg Celcius, the heat reduces bacteria. Saccharification, is the process of cooling the mash, and adding glucoamylase, this converts the starch to dextrose, Fermentation, is where the yeast is added to ferment the sugars to convert it to Ethanol. This process consists of the mash going through several different tanks, and takes about 48 hours.

Please note that this procedure is risky and I do not recommend making biodiesel without further research of the process, these are just general guidelines of the making process, if you wish to actually make your own bio diesel please consult expert companies or professionals.

Distillation, the mash now contains about 10% alcohol and 90% non fermentable solids, the solids are now separated from the alcohol, to reach about a 96% strength of alcohol.
Dehydration, is where the last of the water is removed to make the alcohol about 200 proof.

Denaturing, is used then to make the alcohol unfit for human consumption, this is done by adding a small amount of gasoline, like 2-5%.
There are 2 co products derived from this process as well. The first is the non fermentable product, this is used as a livestock feed, the second is the carbon dioxide which is collected from the process and sold to other industries.

There are many reasons to use Ethanol as either an additive or an alternative fuel; one of the main reasons is the reduction of pollution. Regular fossil based fuels are not only damaging to the environment they are a non-renewable resources; once they are gone they can never be replaced, or regenerated.