LS9 Produces Renewable Petroleum

What if instead of brewing beer you could brew crude oil? A Silicon Valley company is doing just that. Genetically modified microbes feed on renewable sugars and excrete hydrocarbons instead of alcohol. LS9 envisions their products being used directly in

any application where petroleum is required. Advantages to fermented petroleum include the fact that the renewable raw materials grown to feed oil-producing microbes will remove more carbon from the atmosphere than burning the fuels will release. Not only carbon-balanced, the process is economically competitive and therefore could help reduce or eliminate dependence on foreign oil.

The production process starts with renewable sugar cane or cellulosic biomass. The technology is scalable, and the resulting hydrocarbon fuels conform to the existing energy distribution and consumer infrastructure. LS9 renewable petroleum also has more energy content than ethanol and no carcinogens.

LS9 can also directly produce custom fuels by controlling the genetic characteristis of the microbes. LS9 renewable petroleum should be available commercially within a few years. The sooner the better!

[more at LS9]