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Updated: Feb 19, 2026

Author Spotlight: Optimizing Hollow-Fiber Membranes for Continuous Liquid-Liquid Extraction of Medium-Chain Fatty Acids
Published on: August 9, 2024
Engineering microbial fatty acid metabolism for biofuels and biochemicals
Eko Roy Marella1, Carina Holkenbrink1, Verena Siewers2
1The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet 220, 2800 Kgs, Lyngby, Denmark.
Abstract:
Traditional oleochemical industry chemically processes animal fats and plant oils to produce detergents, lubricants, biodiesel, plastics, coatings, and other products. Biotechnology offers an alternative process, where the same oleochemicals can be produced from abundant biomass feedstocks using microbial catalysis. This review summarizes the recent advances in the engineering of microbial metabolism for production of fatty acid-derived products. We highlight the efforts in engineering the central carbon metabolism, redox metabolism, controlling the chain length of the products, and obtaining metabolites with different functionalities. The prospects of commercializing microbial oleochemicals are also discussed.
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