One promising development in biobutanol production technology was discovered in the late summer of 2011Tulane University's alternative fuel

research scientists discovered a strain of Clostridium, called "TU-103", that can convert nearly any form of cellulose into butanol, and is the only known strain of Clostridium-genus bacteria that can do so in the presence of oxygen.[11] [12] The university's researchers have stated that the source of the "TU-103" Clostridium bacteria strain was most likely from the solid waste from one of the plains zebra at New Orleans' Audubon Zoo.[13] Metabolic engineering can be used to allow an organism to use a cheaper substrate such as glycerol instead of glucose. Because fermentation processes require glucose derived from foods, butanol production can negatively impact food supply (see food vs fuel debate). Glycerol is a good alternative source for butanol production. While glucose sources are valuable and limited, glycerol is abundant and has a low market price because it is a waste product of biodiesel production. Butanol production from glycerol is economically viable using metabolic pathways that exist in Clostridium pasteurianum bacterium.[14] A combination of succinate and ethanol can be fermented to produce butyrate (a precursor to butanol fuel) by utilizing the metabolic pathways present in a gram-positive anaerobic bacterium Clostridium kluyveri. Succinate is an intermediate of the TCA cycle, which metabolizes glucose. Anaerobic bacteria such as Clostridium acetobutylicum and Clostridium saccharobutylicum also contain these pathways. Succinate is first activated and then reduced by a two-step reaction to give 4-hydroxybutyrate, which is then metabolized further to crotonyl-coenzyme A (CoA) . Crotonyl-CoA is then converted to butyrate. The genes corresponding to these butanol production pathways from Clostridium were cloned to E. coli.[15] In 2012 researchers developed a method for storing electrical energy as chemical energy in higher alcohols (including butanol). These alcohols can then be used as liquid transportation fuels. The team led by James Liao genetically engineered lithoautotrophic microorganism known as Ralstonia Eutropha H16 to produce isobutanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol in an electrobioreactor. Carbon dioxide is the sole carbon source for this process and electricity is used as the energetic component. The process they developed effectively separates the light and dark reactions that occur during photosynthesis. Solar panels are used to convert sunlight to electrical energy which is then converted using the microorganism to a chemical intermediate. The team is now in the process of scaling up the operation and believes this process will be more efficient than the biologic process