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Updated: Dec 9, 2025

Genetic Engineering of an Unconventional Yeast for Renewable Biofuel and Biochemical Production
Published on: September 20, 2016
Metabolic engineering for the production of butanol, a potential advanced biofuel, from renewable resources
Chunhua Zhao1,2, Yanping Zhang1, Yin Li1
1CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Abstract:
Butanol is an important chemical and potential fuel. For more than 100 years, acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation of Clostridium strains has been the most successful process for biological butanol production. In recent years, other microbes have been engineered to produce butanol as well, among which Escherichia coli was the best one. Considering the crude oil price fluctuation, minimizing the cost of butanol production is of highest priority for its industrial application. Therefore, using cheaper feedstocks instead of pure sugars is an important project. In this review, we summarized butanol production from different renewable resources, such as industrial and food waste, lignocellulosic biomass, syngas and other renewable resources. This review will present the current progress in this field and provide insights for further engineering efforts on renewable butanol production.
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