Now E. coli (Escherichia coli) can do more than ruin your day, it can create plastic with just a little genetic manipulation.  Even better, it is expected that within a year this new method of creating plastic will be cheaper than the current process that uses fossil fuel.

As reported by Scientific American, San Diego, Ca. based Genomatica, Inc. has genetically engineered E. coli, to produce "butanediol (BDO), a chemical compound used to make everything from spandex to car bumpers, thereby providing a more energy-efficient way of making it without oil or natural gas."

When using oil or natural gas, to create BDO a significant amount of energy as heat is required.  This new method using specially engineered bacteria, is much less energy intensive because the BDO is made in fermentation tanks at normal temperatures below 105 degrees Fahrenheit or  40 degrees Celsius.

Genomatica has genetically altered E. coli so that it secretes a substance that is used in such diverse products as plastics and pharmaceuticals.  The E. coli has been specifically engineered to secrete BDO in order for it to grow.   The bacteria is grown in a sugar water concentrate to create BDO in large concentrations.  It has also been altered to allow it to thrive in water with high concentrations of BDO, an environment that formerly killed E. coli. The BDO is then purified and separated from the water.  The sugar used is not the same type of sugar used in food products.

As with all new production methods, the cost of the process will determine whether creating plastic out of E. coli and sugar water will become the choice of BDO producers.  Currently, the projected costs show that even factoring in the cost of collecting all of the feedstock (cellulose to sugar), the process should be 30% cheaper than processes that use oil and natural gas.

Since three billion pounds of BDO are currently produced from oil and natural gas, there is a large incentive for Genomatica to develop the most efficient, least expensive method possible.  As oil and natural gas become scarce, this new method of creating one of the major building blocks used to create so many different items will become more and more convenient.

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Entry was posted on Monday, September 22nd, 2008 at 8:12 pm under Green Technology, Science and technology, Technology.

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