Bacterial production of fatty acid and biodiesel: opportunity and challenges

Abstract The increasing load on the ecosystem with activities, such as deforestation, exploited land use, industrialization, and excess waste generation, leads to a global climate shift, which is one of the leading environmental issues of the world today. The basic biomolecules for the production of biofuel include fatty acids, alcohols, and alkanes. Biodiesel is composed of monoalkyl esters of higher chain of fatty acids, produced though the transesterification reaction by alcohol in the presence of a catalyst. Hydrocarbons are the metabolic by-product of many bacterial sp. and generally produced from fatty acids and triacylglycerol (TAG). Bacterial lipids and TAG are the precursor material for improved biofuel production, because of their wide application in the production of different chain length hydrocarbons. The advance science of genetic engineering can help in modification of the conventional approaches of production in order to achieve a higher yield of such biological materials. Therefore by employing a joint strategy of natural and altered synthetic (fatty acid biosynthesis) pathways in bacteria, the production of valuable chemicals and fuels is expected to be enhanced in future.