Long-chain alcohol production in open culture anaerobic fermentation

The continuously rising energy prices and the growth in petroleum consumption have induced the pertinent pursuit of producing alternative fuels. Utilizing long-chain alcohols (LCAs) yielded from anaerobic bioprocess as renewable energy is a promising strategy to achieve the sustainable production of biofuels. Anaerobic fermen-tation is a sustainable process for reclaiming biodiesel from the organic wastes, which has received increasing attention due to its potential in producing renewable energy. Open-culture fermentation is preferred over single -species fermentation to yield the said alcohols because of its lower operating and capital costs. To better explore the LCAs productions from open-culture fermentation, a comprehensive understanding of this subject is currently needed but not available yet. To this end, the formations of LCAs and their possible precursors, medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), were systematically evaluated at first time with the focus on metabolic platforms, inter -species interactions, and competing microbial reactions. Suitable operational conditions and challenges were then synthesized, followed by the discussion on the viability of adopting current strategies towards higher al-cohols productivities. The potential opportunities for enhancing LCAs outputs via biological processes were then suggested based on the review.