Biobutanol - Biotechnology in China: Biofuels and Bioenergy - page 85

Biobutanol

Hongjun Dong, Wenwen Tao, Zongjie Dai, Liejian Yang,
Fuyu Gong, Yanping Zhang and Yin Li

Abstract China initiated its acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) industry in the
1950s; it peaked in the 1980s, and ended at the end of the last century owing to
the development of more competitive petrochemical pathways. However,
driven by the high price of crude oil and environmental concerns raised by the
over-consumption of petrochemical products, biofuels and bio-based chemicals
including butanol have garnered global attention again. Currently, butanol
produced from ABE fermentation is mainly used as an industrial solvent or
a platform chemical for several bulk derivatives, and is also believed to be a
potential biofuel. A number of plants have been built or rebuilt in recent years in
China for butanol production with the ABE process. Chinese researchers
also show great interest in the improvement of the production strains and
corresponding processes. They have applied conventional mutagenesis methods
to improve butanol-producing strains such as the Clostridium acetobutylicum
mutant strains EA2018 (butanol ratio of 70%) and Rh8 (butanol tolerance of
19 g/L). The omics technologies, such as genome sequencing, proteomic and
transcriptomic analysis, have been adapted to elucidate the characteristics of
different butanol-producing bacteria. Based on the group II intron method, the
genetic manipulation system of C. acetobutylicum was greatly improved, and
some successful engineering strains were developed. In addition, research in
China also covers the downstream processes. This article reviews up-to-date
progress on biobutanol production in China.

Keywords Acetone-butanol-ethanol industry Biobutanol China Clostridium
acetobutylicum Genomics Strain engineering

H. Dong W. Tao L. Yang F. Gong Y. Zhang Y. Li ( )

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Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing 100101, China
e-mail: [e-mail]
Z. Dai
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,
School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China,
Hefei 230026, Anhui, China