Renewable petroleum (Credit: LS9)

For fermentation to take place you need raw material, or feedstock, as it is known in the biofuel industry. Anything will do as long as it can be broken down into sugars, with the byproduct ideally burnt to produce electricity to run the plant. Using genetically modified bugs for fermentation is essentially the same as using natural bacteria to produce ethanol, although the energy-intensive final process of distillation is virtually eliminated because the bugs excrete a substance that is almost pump-ready. 

Due to the much publicized problems created by using food crops for fuel the company is not interested in using corn as feedstock. Instead, various agricultural wastes will be used according to whatever makes sense for the local climate and economy. 

Although LS9 can produce its bug fuel in laboratory beakers it has no idea whether it will be able produce the same results on a nationwide or even global scale. LS9 plans to have a demonstration-scale plant operational by 2010 and, in parallel, work on the design and construction of a commercial-scale facility to open in 2011. If LS9 used Brazilian sugar cane as its feedstock, its fuel would probably cost about $50 a barrel. 

The big question is, are Americans ready to be putting genetically modified bug excretion in their cars? “It’s not the same as with food,” Mr. Pal says. “We’re putting these bacteria in a very isolated container: their entire universe is in that tank. When we’re done with them, they’re destroyed.” 

TFOT recently covered the use of biofuels in airlines as well as Milner Motors' ElectriCar and Honda's new fuel cell car. 

More on LS9's petroleum excreting bugs can be found on the company’s website.