The use of microorganisms in food and beverage production dates back to ancient times. However, the rise of industrial production and the discovery of easily accessible petroleum deposits led to a decline in the use of biological routes. With rising economic and environmental costs of petroleum-based products, there is renewed interest in biological production of commodity fuels and specialty chemicals. High-temperature fermentations, closer to temperatures used in chemical refineries, offer potential advantages over mesophilic biorefineries. Thermostable enzymes have been used in industrial catalysis, and it is possible to improve the thermostability of mesophilic enzymes. High-temperature bioprocessing has advantages such as reduced risk of contamination and lowered chances of phage infection. Genetics in extreme thermophiles is a major challenge, but nutritional selection techniques, such as uracil prototrophic selection, have been successfully used. This technology has the potential to improve the production of commodity fuels and specialty chemicals.
Extremely heat-loving microbes serve as cutting-edge platforms for biofabricating sustainable fuels and industrial chemical products.
