Microbes can provide sustainable hydrocarbons for the petrochemical industry: Engineered bacteria produce medium-chain olefins that could replace oil and gas in syntheses
If the petrochemical industry is ever to wean itself off oil and gas, it has to find sustainably-sourced chemicals that slip effortlessly into existing processes for making products such as fuels, lubricants and plastics. Making those chemicals biologically is the obvious option, but microbial products are different from fossil fuel hydrocarbons in two key ways: […]