Sustainable award
With our project, we developed an innovative carbon-neutral biofuel and therefore provide the base for a sustainable and carbon-free future. Due to that, the project aligns with several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which were defined in 2015 to provide a habitable earth in the future.
Already today, the world is facing tremendous effects caused by climate change. Therefore, with our project we provide the first carbon-neutral platform for biobutanol production with bacteria exclusively living on carbon dioxide-containing syngas. We aim to combine the genetic material of a solventogenic and an acetogenic clostridium to construct a CO2-assimilating bacteria which can produce high-yield butanol. Based on the great achievements of iGEM Nottingham 2019 we are able to transfer genetic material in this bacterial class and can work towards the implementation of carbon dioxide assimilation in the butanol-producing bacterium.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined in 2015 the 17 sustainable Development Goals to action for ending poverty, reducing inequality and driving sustainable and environmental economic growth. Since our project provides the first carbon dioxide neutral biofuel we align with the SDGs and combat the ongoing climate change.
SDG 7
As our aimed bacterium utilizes waste gas (syngas), the costs of purchasing this substrate are considerably lower than crude oil, mainly used for fuel production. LanzaTech declares the carbon price of 100$/MT, which is immensely below the cost of 5500€/T for crude oil [1]. A further advantage of biobutanol as a biofuel is that it can be directly used with widely available internal combustion engines and in heavy machinery, therefore this would allow affordable biofuel even in financially unstable communities.
SDG 9
A significant advantage of the biofuel butanol as a product is the feasible integration in terms of distribution. It could be transported via existing pipelines or petrol trucks and can fuel commonly used internal combustion engines. This would avoid the need for a complex infrastructure rebuild and would allow a carbon-neutral production and transportation also in financially unstable countries as substrate prices are low and product prices are comparable to existing fuels. Furthermore, fuel production would no longer be coupled to fossil resources and therefore allow local production. Therefore, our technology builds the basis for the carbon-neutral industry since the required syngas mixture is common waste gas in municipal waste gasification.
SDG 13
Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas and 60 % of the global carbon emission is produced by the transportation-, industrial-, and the electricity and heat production sector (IPCC 2014). Especially in financially unstable countries, industrial waste gasses pollute the environment unfiltered. Our approach can use this harmful gas mixture and turn it into valuable biofuels and at the same time replace common crude oil-based fuels. Apart from the application as biofuel, butanol has several applications as a solvent in the chemical industry and therefore enables the base for a carbon-negative infrastructure.
The successful combination of CO2-fixing bacteria and high-yield butanol-producing bacteria has immense potential to contribute to a realistic and affordable technology for a carbon-neutral and sustainable future.
SDG
[1] W. R. da S. Trindade and R. G. dos Santos, “Review on the characteristics of butanol, its production and use as fuel in internal combustion engines,” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 69, pp. 642–651, Mar. 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2016.11.213.
https://datatopics.worldbank.org/sdgatlas/goal-16-peace-justice-and-strong-institutions/