Microbes are working away in an Iowa State University
laboratory to ferment biofuels from the sugar and acetate produced by rapidly
heating biomass such as corn stalks and sawdust.
But it’s not an easy job for E. coli and C. reinhardtii.
The bacteria and microalgae, respectively, don’t like
something in the bio-oil produced by fast pyrolysis – the rapid heating of
biomass without oxygen and with catalysts. The result of the thermochemical
process is a thick, brown oil that smells like molasses.