EUBCE 2021 - Ignacio HERRAEZ - BACTOFUEL: BACterial Conversion of CO2 and Renewable H2 inTO FUEL

BACTOFUEL: BACterial Conversion of CO2 and Renewable H2 inTO FUEL

Short Introductive summary

BACTOFUEL(BACterial conversion of CO2 and renewable H2 inTO BioFUELs) is a EU project that wants to demonstrate at TRL5 the possibility to produce butanol from H2O, sunlight and CO2, combining two technologies. The first one consists in a photocatalytic reaction to produce h2 by water splitting using atomic quantum clusters that enhance the catalytic reaction by absorbing not only in the UV but in the visible. The second technology is to transform CO2 and h2 from a bacterium that has been genetically modified by CRISPR-Cas. We will modify the bacteria to make them more suitable to produce butanol, optimizing the energy to get more product. Coupling these two approaches we will be able to create a kit that could avoid CO2 emissions by transforming it into added value products. The EU has provided the project with an additional tool, MI-DICE project, a parallel project that give us the tools to boost the technology to market. A feasibility study and a Tech-to-market plan is reviewed every week and examined every six months by the EU, giving us "go" or "no go" once seen the progress done. That will increase the options to reach commercialisation faster than expected.