Gujarat, India (CU)_ According to university authorities, researchers at Gujarat Biotechnology University (GBU) are researching on innovative methods and technologies to manufacture carbon-free gasoline, which will ultimately lower the carbon emissions and contribute to a greener environment. The research group is developing a “green process concept” by utilizing “whole-cell biocatalysis” (WCB) for the production of green fuels and biopolymers. The researchers asserted that the procedure is not only inexpensive, but also easily scalable to industrial level.
The Department of Science and Technology in Gujarat founded the university in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh (UoE) in the United Kingdom. The development of industrialisation and the exponential progress in worldwide use of petroleum-based fuels have increased the global carbon footprint. The newly founded institute’s researchers are striving to reduce carbon emissions.
The study has been published in a number of prestigious peer-reviewed journals, such as Biofuels, Bioproducts, and Biorefining (Biofpr) and Chemical Engineering Technology, as well as a book titled “Whole-Cell Biocatalysis: Next-Generation Workhouse for Green Synthesis of Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, and Biofuels.”
Sudheer Pamidimarri, associate professor at GBU, said, “Carbon burden (is) a major concern currently threatening future human sustenance and creating green technology with carbon-free alternative fuels is the only way out… and WCB is a promising platform to achieve this mission”. He added, “The project started late in the year 2019, we got a few leads working with modern ‘omics’ tools and (are) now getting ready to work on a bench to execute the idea. In this work, we are going to implement novel metabolic-flux engineering tools for the first time to establish WCB to generate carbon-free fuels such as Bio-H2. The targeted timeline of achieving this task on laboratory scale is by 2024. Further planning will be done for industrial scale-up”.
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of India is funding the “Synthesis of Green Fuels” (Bio-H2) project. This research group’s future target will be the synthesis of biopolymers (di-acids, PHBs, and amines, among others) from waste biomass. The research group devised a model based on the idea of “whole-cell biocatalysis” that would significantly lower the cost of the process by at least fiftyfold and have a guaranteed use in commercial scale-up. Additionally, the research group is interested in designing the whole-cell system to synthesize Bio-H2 fuel from crude glycerol and sugars generated from lignocellulosic biomass.
