Some Aspects of Thermophilic and Extreme Thermophilic Anaerobic Microorganisms

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Abstract
An interest for industrial use of thermophilic, anaerobic bacteria has clearly emerged since the 1973 oil shortages. Such bacteria are capable of converting biomass, mostly cellulose, hemicellulose and starch to desirable industrial feedstock chemicals such as acetate, ethanol, acetone, butanol, etc. (1). The thermophilic bacteria are also convenient sources of enzymes, which are more thermostable and more resistant toward denaturation when compared with corresponding enzymes from mesophilic microorganisms (2). Clearly, enzymes from thermophiles have properties which are desirable when considering industrial applications. The idea of using thermophilic microorganisms industrially is not new. For instance, several British patents since 1920 deal with fermentations of cellulose using thermophilic, aerobic, as well as anaerobic, microorganisms (3). Curiously, these efforts were to produce ethanol from renewable resources to be used as liquid fuel for combustion engines. This idea has now been rediscovered some sixty or more years after it was formulated. The cycle is complete. The problem for today is not whether we can or can not ferment biomass to desirable products but rather which are the best microorganisms to use, how can we improve them, and what is the best technology.