Environmental impacts of ethylene production from diverse feedstocks and energy sources

Ghanta, Madhav; Fahey, Darryl R.; Subramaniam, Bala

doi:10.1007/s13203-013-0029-7

Cited by 101 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…2 Ethylene is primarily obtained from thermal cracking of natural gas and petroleum, 3 but this method of production unfortunately releases into the atmosphere large quantities of CO 2 and other greenhouse gases with consequent negative environmental impacts. 4 Therefore, technologies are required that produce ethylene from renewable resources. Examples of these alternative or “green” methods include production of ethylene from biomass 5–6 and the use of genetically engineered microorganisms including yeast, 7–8 Escherichia coli , 9–10 and cyanobacteria 11–16 that express the efe gene encoding an ethylene-forming enzyme (EFE).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structures and Mechanisms of the Non-Heme Fe(II)- and 2-Oxoglutarate-Dependent Ethylene-Forming Enzyme: Substrate Binding Creates a Twist

et al. 2017

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The ethylene-forming enzyme (EFE) from Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola PK2 is a member of the mononuclear non-heme Fe(II)- and 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent oxygenase superfamily. EFE converts 2OG into ethylene plus three CO2 molecules while also catalyzing the C5 hydroxylation of L-arginine (L-Arg) driven by the oxidative decarboxylation of 2OG to form succinate and CO2. Here we report eleven X-ray crystal structures of EFE that provide insight into the mechanisms of these two reactions. Binding of 2OG in the absence of L-Arg resulted in predominantly monodentate metal coordination, distinct from the typical bidentate metal-binding species observed in other family members. Subsequent addition of L-Arg resulted in compression of the active site, a conformational change of the carboxylate side chain metal ligand to allow for hydrogen bonding with the substrate, and creation of a twisted peptide bond involving this carboxylate and the following tyrosine residue. A reconfiguration of 2OG achieves bidentate metal coordination. The dioxygen binding site is located on the metal face opposite to that facing L-Arg, thus requiring reorientation of the generated ferryl species to catalyze L-Arg hydroxylation. Notably, a phenylalanyl side chain pointing towards the metal may hinder such a ferryl flip and promote ethylene formation. Extensive site-directed mutagenesis studies supported the importance of this phenylalanine and confirmed the essential residues used for substrate binding and catalysis. The structural and functional characterization described here suggests that conversion of 2OG to ethylene, atypical among Fe(II)/2OG oxygenases, is facilitated by the binding of L-Arg which leads to an altered positioning of the carboxylate metal ligand, a resulting twisted peptide bond, and the off-line geometry for dioxygen coordination.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structures and Mechanisms of the Non-Heme Fe(II)- and 2-Oxoglutarate-Dependent Ethylene-Forming Enzyme: Substrate Binding Creates a Twist

et al. 2017

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“…Currently, butenoic acid is produced chemically from butenoic aldehyde and the original source is petroleum. Butenoic acid production by petroleum needs four steps: from petroleum to ethylene (Ghanta et al 2013), from ethylene to acetaldehyde (Vanderheide et al 1992), from acetaldehyde to butenoic aldehyde, and from butenoic aldehyde to butenoic acid (Schulz et al 2000). However, this chemical pathway to produce butenoic acid is costly because of the fast-rising petroleum prices, and ethylene as a petroleum derivative has increased in price as well (Masih et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biosynthesis of butenoic acid through fatty acid biosynthesis pathway in Escherichia coli

Liu

Jiang

et al. 2014

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol

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Butenoic acid is a C4 short-chain unsaturated fatty acid mainly used in the preparation of resins, pharmaceuticals, and fine chemicals. However, butenoic acid derived from petroleum is costly and unfriendly to the environment. Here, we report a novel biosynthetic strategy to produce butenoic acid by utilizing the intermediate of fatty acid biosynthesis pathway in engineered Escherichia coli. A thioesterase gene (B. thetaiotaomicron thioesterase (bTE)) from Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron was heterologously expressed in E. coli to specifically convert butenoyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP), a fatty acid biosynthesis intermediate, to butenoic acid. The titer of butenoic acid ranged from 0.07 to 11.4 mg/L in four different E. coli strains with varied expressing vectors. Deletion of endogenous fadD gene (encoding acyl-CoA synthetase) to block fatty acid oxidation improved the butenoic acid production in all strains to some extent. The highest butenoic acid accumulation of 18.7 mg/L was obtained in strain XP-2 (BL21-∆fadD/pET28a-bTE). Moreover, partially inhibiting the enoyl-ACP reductase (FabI) of strain XP-2 by triclosan increased butenoic acid production by threefold, and the butenoic acid titer was further increased to 161.4 mg/L by supplying glucose and tryptone in the M9 medium. Fed-batch fermentation of this strain further enhanced butenoic acid production to 4.0 g/L within 48 h. The butenoic acid tolerance assay revealed that this strain could tolerate 15-20 g/L of butenoic acid.

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“…[43] Note that the predicted cradle-to-gate impacts are considerably greater than the gate-to-gatee missions. For ethylene production from CO 2 and "renewable" H 2 (H 2ren ), where renewable indicates the production of H 2 by water electrolysis using renewable electrical energy sources, there are no equivalent reported data.…”

Section: Is It Realistic To Conceive Re-driven Chemistry?mentioning

confidence: 96%

“…More specifically,t he comparison ( Figure 1) referstot he predicted cradle-to-gate environmental impactsa ssociated with manufacturing 400 000 tonneso fe thylene from naphtha, ethane, and ethanolu sing natural gas as energy source in all cases. [43] Note that the predicted cradle-to-gate impacts are considerably greater than the gate-to-gatee missions. For ethylene production from CO 2 and "renewable" H 2 (H 2ren ), where renewable indicates the production of H 2 by water electrolysis using renewable electrical energy sources, there are no equivalent reported data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…[42] RE-Driven Chemistryf or aLow-Carbon Economy RE-driven chemistry represents an on-incremental change to move to al ow-carbon economy.T ob etter understand this statement, it is necessary to analyze the production of ethylene as an example, ethylene being ak ey building block for petrochemistry andt hus its production affecting the full chemical production chain. As ar eference, we use the quantitative cradle-to-gate environmental impacts estimated by Ghanta et al [43] for ethylene production from naphtha (petroleum crude), ethane (natural gas), and ethanol( corn-based). It must be clarifiedt hat various aspects determine the effective carbon footprint.F or example, for ethylene production from naphtha, the composition of the crude oil has as ignificant influenceo n the overall environmental impact.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beyond Solar Fuels: Renewable Energy‐Driven Chemistry

et al. 2017

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The ongoing energy transition based on the substitution of fossil feedstocksa se nergy sourcesw ith renewablee nergy (RE) sourcesdemands reconsideration of current industrial chemical production,w hich is anticipated to be at the end of this cycle. The main element determining greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during chemical production is the use of fossil fuels to drive chemical transformations, rather than their use as sources of carbon.F urthermore, RE will become progressively cheaper as as ource of energy with respectt ot hat derived fromf ossil fuels and new chemical raw materials such as methanol, derived from the conversion of waste CO 2 ,w illb ecome available on al arge scale, being used as energy vectors to transport RE on ag lobals cale. There are thus converging sustainability elements indicating the need to move to af uture scenario of chemicali ndustrialp roduction denoted as "RE-driven chemistry", which can also provide ag reat opportunity for innovation and competitivity in chemical industry.I nt his Essay we discuss how it is realistic to conceive of RE-driven chemistry,w hich will be an on-incremental change to move to al ow-carbon economy,t hat is, with ad ecreasei nG HG emissions by up to 80 %. However,t his objective requires the fulfillment of two criteria: i) the use of RE-driven processes for the production of base raw materials, such as olefins,m ethanol, and ammonia,w hich are at the top of the chemical production value chain and ii)the development of RE-driven routes that simultaneously realize process and energy intensification, that is, which combine the use of RE in substitution of fossil fuels to significantly reducethe number of the process steps. Twospecific examples of using RE to realize novel conversion pathways are discussed: the direct synthesies of ammonia from N 2 andH 2 Oa nd that of acetic acid from CO 2 and H 2 O. They exemplify the above concept and the possibility of ar eductiono fo ver 80 % in GHG emissions. Some aspects of the production of olefins from renewable methanola re also discussed. Enabling this vision of an ew chemical industrial production based on the use of RE requires significant investment in new production technologies, because an on-incremental change in chemical industry-thedevelopment of newm aterials, reactors and processes( for example, based on the use of electrons and photons rather than heat as today)-is an ecessity.T hese novel technologiesw ill offer the opportunity to overcome the actual industrial process, by switching from largei ntegrated chemical plantst oad istributed modelo fp roduction with various sustainability benefits.

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Environmental impacts of ethylene production from diverse feedstocks and energy sources

Cited by 101 publications

References 21 publications

Structures and Mechanisms of the Non-Heme Fe(II)- and 2-Oxoglutarate-Dependent Ethylene-Forming Enzyme: Substrate Binding Creates a Twist

Structures and Mechanisms of the Non-Heme Fe(II)- and 2-Oxoglutarate-Dependent Ethylene-Forming Enzyme: Substrate Binding Creates a Twist

Biosynthesis of butenoic acid through fatty acid biosynthesis pathway in Escherichia coli

Beyond Solar Fuels: Renewable Energy‐Driven Chemistry

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