Can it be done? That is, development of a sustainable green chemistry platform for production of acetone and downstream drop-in fuel and commodity products directly from biomass syngas via a novel energy conserving route in engineered acetogenic bacteria? It’s not only the longest title of a bioeconomy project in history, it’s a potentially history-making process being developed by LanzaTech and partners that the DOE is supporting.

The project outcomes? Demonstration of novel process for acetone production from biomass syngas at commercially relevant rates in a continuous process and scalable pilot reactor. And, optimization of natural and synthetic pathway for acetone production, Plus a bonus: validation of commercial potential through TEA and LCA.

LanzaTech CTO and co-founder Sean Simpson gave this illuminating overview of the project’s progress and promise at the DOE Project Peer Review meetings.

All Your Acetogen Are Belong to Us: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to acetone and drop-in biofuels from syngas fermentation