Engineering Enzymes for Energy Production
David L. Ollis A B , Jian-Wei Liu A and Bradley J. Stevenson AA Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
B Corresponding author. Email: ollis@rsc.anu.edu.au
Australian Journal of Chemistry 65(6) 652-655 https://doi.org/10.1071/CH11452
Submitted: 30 November 2011 Accepted: 15 February 2012 Published: 24 April 2012
Abstract
Harvesting the energy of sunlight can be achieved with a variety of processes and as one becomes obsolete, others will need to be developed to replace it. The direct conversion of sunlight into electrical energy could be used to provide power. Energy could also be obtained by combusting hydrogen produced by splitting of water with sunlight. None of these direct approaches will entirely satisfy the entire energy needs of a modern economy and the conversion of biological materials into liquid fuels for transport and other applications may prove to be important for tomorrow’s energy needs. In fact, biofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel are already used in many countries. However, the long-term viability of these fuels depends on the efficiency of the processes used to produce them. We outline here a method by which ethanol can be produced using enzymes that can be optimized for this purpose.
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