Increasing environmental concerns regarding fossil fuels and potential future supply constraints have driven the exploration of alternative fuel resources. The natural fermentation products by anaerobic acetogens can synthesize fuels and chemicals cleanly and sustainably. Cellular biology that enables syngas fermentation by using these versatile microorganisms contributes substantially to design strategies for acetogen cell engineering and to optimize these technologies to an industrially attractive production level. The potential to utilize metabolic engineering to improve the spectrum of acetogen products helps develop acetogens as efficient syngas fermentation biocatalysts for biofuel production in large-scale industrial processes.

Potential native biofuel products from acetogens