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A comment on Synthetic biology startup Lygos raises $13M to make cleaner chemicals.

Re:Synthetic biology startup Lygos raises $13M to make clean... by mrob on Tuesday December 13, 2016 @04:06PM (#13171026)
Some other organic acids are already made by bacterial fermentation. It's standard practice for lactic acid, and an uncommon method for succinic acid.

More information: http://www.nnfcc.co.uk/publications/nnfcc-renewable-chemical... http://www.nnfcc.co.uk/publications/nnfcc-renewable-chemical...

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Re:Synthetic biology startup Lygos raises $13M to make clean... by dekhn on Tuesday December 13, 2016 @05:57PM (#13172049)
Heck, Britain almost lost WWII because they couldn't make acetone. Chaim Weizmann invented a technique to make bacterial produce acetone.
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Re:Synthetic biology startup Lygos raises $13M to make clean... by mrob on Tuesday December 13, 2016 @06:16PM (#13172203)
The Acetone–butanol–ethanol process:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone%E2%80%93butanol%E2%80%...

Obsoleted by cheaper petrochemical processes, but there's renewed interest now that environmental considerations are getting more attention, so maybe it will return to commercial use some day.

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