A startup that has successfully engineered bacteria to make common industrial chemicals is now using its technology to engineer organisms to make renewable fuel.
OPX Biotechnologies, based in Boulder, Colorado, says its strains of E. coli can be used to convert sugar to acrylic acid--a key component of paints, diapers, and adhesives--at lower costs than making it from petroleum. The bacteria-based process produces 75 percent fewer carbon-dioxide emissions than making the same amount from oil, and a single commercial plant using the process could reduce petroleum consumption by over 500,000 barrels per year.
The company is one of dozens of startups that have sprung up to make chemicals from plant matter rather than petroleum. It's something researchers have been trying to do for decades, but only recently have they had any success with commercial-scale production.
This whole segment of genetic engineering R&D businesses is just roaring right now. You can tick "plastics" off that list of petroleum derivatives that civilization is necessarily shackled to.