A Review on Green Liquid Fuels for the Transportation Sector: a Prospect of Microbial Solutions to Climate Change
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Biofuel Research Journal 23 (2019) 995-1024 Journal homepage: www.biofueljournal.com Review Paper A review on green liquid fuels for the transportation sector: a prospect of microbial solutions to climate change Hamed Kazemi Shariat Panahi1,2, Mona Dehhaghi1,2, James E. Kinder 3, Thaddeus Chukwuemeka Ezeji3,* 1 Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University, NSW, Australia. 2Department of Microbial Biotechnology, School of Biology and Centre of Excellence in Phylogeny of Living Organisms, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. 3Department of Animal Sciences, Ohio State Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), The Ohio State University, Wooster, USA. HIGHLIGHTS GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT Microbial-based biofuel as a promising waste-to- energy technology has been scrutinized. Microbial production of bio-jet fuel is possible through DSHC, AtJ, and GtL. Future application of ammonia as bio-fuel requires special design of ICE. Cons and pros of microbial liquid fuels over gasoline have been outlined. Conversion of microbial liquid fuel into fuel derivatives has been discussed. ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Environmental deterioration, global climate change, and consequent increases in pollution-related health problems among Received 12 July 2019 populations have been attributed to growing consumption of fossil fuels in particular by the transportation sector. Hence, Received in revised form 18 August 2019 replacing these energy carriers, also known as major contributors of greenhouse gas emissions, with biofuels have been regarded Accepted 20 August 2019 as a solution to mitigate the above-mentioned challenges. On the other hand, efforts have been put into limiting the utilization Available online 1 September 2019 of edible feedstocks for biofuels production, i.e., first generation biofuels, by promoting higher generations of these eco-friendly alternatives. In light of that, the present review is aimed at comprehensively assessing the role and importance of microorganisms Keywords: such as bacteria and yeasts as catalysts for sustainable production of liquid biofuels including bioethanol, biomethanol, Biofuel biobutanol, bio-ammonia, biokerosene, and bioglycerol. Various aspects of these biofuels, i.e., background, chemical synthesis, Microbial metabolite microbial production (including exploitation of wild and metabolically-engineered species), and product recovery as well as the Bioethanol derivatives produced from these biofuels which are used as fuel additives are thoroughly covered and critically discussed. Biobutanol Furthermore, the industrial features of these green liquid fuels including the industrial practices reported in the literature and the Bio-jet fuel challenges faced as well as possible approaches to enhance these practices are presented. Sustainable energy Fuel additive © 2019 BRTeam. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author at: Tel.: +1-330-263-3796 E-mail address: [email protected] Please cite this article as: Kazemi Shariat Panahi H., Dehhaghi M., Kinder J.E., Ezeji T.C. A review on green liquid fuels for the transportation sector: a prospect of microbial solutions to climate change. Biofuel Research Journal 23 (2019) 995-1024. DOI: 10.18331/BRJ2019.6.3.2 996 Kazemi Shariat Panahi et al. / Biofuel Research Journal 23 (2019) 995-1024 Contents 1. Introduction.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 998 2. Methanol......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 998 2.1. Development of methanol as fuel: attributes, challenges and mitigating strategies................................................................................................................. 998 2.2. Chemical synthesis of methanol.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 999 2.3. Biological production of methanol: significance of CH4 in methanol-producing microorganisms....................................................................................... 1000 2.4. Methanol derivatives as fuel components: production, application, and performance.......................................................................................................... 1001 3. Ethanol.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1003 3.1. Background and possibilities................................................................................................................................................................................................. 1003 3.2. Chemical synthesis of ethanol................................................................................................................................................................................................ 1003 3.3. Microbial production of ethanol............................................................................................................................................................................................. 1004 3.3.1. Ethanol-producing microorganisms............................................................................................................................................................................... 1004 3.3.2. Commercial fermentative production of ethanol........................................................................................................................................................... 1004 3.4. Ethanol derivatives as fuel components: production, applications, and performance........................................................................................................... 1006 4. Butanol......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1008 4.1. Background and possibilities................................................................................................................................................................................................. 1008 4.2. Chemical synthesis of butanol............................................................................................................................................................................................... 1008 4.3. Butanol-producing microorganisms....................................................................................................................................................................................... 1009 4.3.1. Butanol fermentation: challenges.................................................................................................................................................................................. 1009 4.3.1.1. Metabolic engineering of fermenting microorganisms.......................................................................................................................................... 1009 4.3.1.2. Simultaneous ABE fermentation and product recovery systems........................................................................................................................... 1011 4.4. Butanol derivatives as fuel additives: production, applications, and performance................................................................................................................ 1011 5. Ammonia...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1012 5.1. Background and possibilities................................................................................................................................................................................................. 1012 5.2. Chemical synthesis of ammonia............................................................................................................................................................................................ 1012 5.3. Microbial production of ammonia......................................................................................................................................................................................... 1012 5.4. Ammonia recovery................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 1013 5.5. Ammonia derivatives as fuel components: production, applications, and performance........................................................................................................ 1013 6. Bio-jet fuels (biokerosene)..........................................................................................................................................................................................................