Continuous Protection and Excretion of Waxy Products (including Fatty/Acid/Alcohol Esters) from Photosynthetic Organisms

Project ID: 1866-AP
Available for licensing

Background

Fatty-acid ethyl esters are biodiesel components. Currently there is a need to procure, transport, and/or store hazardous ethanol in a traditional industrial process. Also, harvesting requires extraction (e.g., solvent methods) and greatly increases the cost of separating these products from other components of the culture. Harvesting/killing the cells reduces the amount of the cell's limited available photosynthetic energy that would normally be used to produce cell materials such as DNA, proteins, and cell membranes. We solve these problems by converting the semi-batch process (grow cells, then harvest/kill) to a continuous process, which is more readily scaled to industrial size.

Invention Description

The engineered photosynthetic organisms generate waxy products in vivo from free fatty acids and alcohols, which are then combined as an ester (e.g., fatty-acid ethyl ester) in vivo. The product is then transported through the cell wall and excreted, where it can be removed from the culture medium.

The invention provides a continuous production system that does not require the organisms to be harvested (killed), and enhances production of fatty acid ethyl esters by excretion, which drives further production.

Benefits

Lower cost
Increased yields
Lower capital expense
Easier separation of fatty-acid ethyl ester from the nutrient medium

Features

Produce ethyl alcohol and fatty-acid ethyl ester in vivo
Assists lipid droplets to locate close to trans-membrane pumps, thus reducing the barrier to diffusion through the cells' aqueous cytoplasm
Excrete the products from the cell

Market Potential/Applications

Currently, biofuels are capturing about $23 billion of the $1.3 trillion we spend each year to power our cars, trucks, airplanes, trains, and ships. That's just two percent of the market with an astounding 98% upside. Growing at the CAGR of more than 33% from the year 2007, world biodiesel production is likely to touch the mark of 12 billion liters by the end of 2010. The U.S. biofuel industry especially ethanol production is expected to lead the global production during the forecasted period of 2008-2017. (Research and Markets)

IP Status

One U.S. patent application filed

UT Researcher

Jerry Brand, Ph.D., Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Texas at Austin
Adam Schindler, MDC-Biology
Zhong-Kui Li, Ph.D., Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Texas at Austin
Norman M. Whitton, Sunrise Ridge Holdings, Inc.

OTC Contact Information

Les Nichols, Licensing Specialist
lnichols@otc.utexas.edu
512-471-0275