2012 Annual Meeting

October 28 - November 2, 2012

Papers are sought that address research and development of Electrofuels. Electrofuels are transportation fuels synthesized by autotrophic microorganisms using electricity or other forms of reducing equivalents other than photons, such as hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide, reduced earth-abundant metal ions and/or organic cofactors, or other sources, in lieu of metabolizing reduced carbon (e.g. sugars). Electron mediators (e.g. ferrous or ammonia) are used to supply electrons to microorganisms with the metabolic capability to generate biofuels and biofuel precursors, such as acetate, methane, butanol, ethanol, or hydrocarbons. Some of the challenges associated with this transformative process of producing transportation fuels include yield of fuels, stability of genetically modified microorganisms, and fouling of electrochemical cells. Topics covered may include, but are not limited to: metabolic engineering and synthetic biological approaches for the high efficiency conversion of hydrogen and carbon dioxide to liquid transportation fuels; non-photosynthetic, autotrophic carbon fixation for biosynthesis of fuels and fuel precursors; reverse microbial fuel cells; coupling of microbial and electrochemical systems; life cycle analysis; and conceptual design and techno-economic analyses of electrofuel production processes.