Advances in Bioenergy

5. Strain Development for Butanol Production

Although butanol is considered to be an ideal alternative to fossil fuels, the biobutanol production through ABE fermentation is still not economically competitive. One limitation is the low butanol yield and the ineluctable production of byproducts such as acetone, ethanol, acetic acid, butyric acid, etc. The butanol production achieved at the end of the fermentation could be limited by butanol toxicity to the host cells. Therefore, various attempts have been conducted for solventogenic clostridia in order to generate robust strains aiming to improve butanol yield, increase selectivity for butanol production, and enhance the strain tolerance to butanol. In addition, recently, microorganisms other than ...