The production of biofuels from syngas (composed mostly of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen) is an emerging technology that can utilize a wide variety of biomass resources. It involves first converting biomass to syngas via a process called gasification. The syngas can then be converted to other products, such as ethanol, using either a metal catalyst or microorganisms.
The syngas can be generated from a wide variety of biomass materials (e.g., prairie grasses, wood chips, solid municipal wastes, paper wastes, softwood trees) and uses the entire biomass feedstock which increases the conversion efficiency.
The production of alcohols from syngas using microbial approaches is currently under development. Several types of microorganisms are capable of consuming syngas as part of their metabolism and producing useful end-products including ethanol.
Microbial production of ethanol from syngas can occur at relatively low pressures and temperatures (compared with metal catalysts), but current productivity levels are low and reaction time slow--the process needs to be improved for commercial production.