UCLA, Gevo engineering new microbes to produce butanol; higher energy density the prize

UCLA researchers, working in harness with Gevo, a new biofuels technology company, are developing microbes that produce isobutanol and other “higher” alcohols during the fermentation process.

Butanol, unlike ethanol, is not corrosive to metals and plastics and has a similar energy density to gasoline.

Last July, Richard Branson and famed high-tech venture capitalist Vinod Khosla announced their investments in the start-up Gevo, which has focused from the start on producing advanced biofuels such as butanol.

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