Photo-driven decarboxylation for sustainable biofuel production: A review on harnessing potential of fatty acid decarboxylases

Abstract

Fatty acid photodecarboxylase (FAP) has emerged as a green biocatalyst under the illumination of visible light to produce biofuel from sustainable feedstocks. However, oxidative damage by photogenerated radicals and structural destabilization of enzymes by organic solvents result in poor stability of FAP. Meanwhile, low efficiency of light and mass transfer in conventional photoreactors and poor substrate availability limit the catalytic performance of FAP. The review covers three strategies to improve FAP stability: (1) the removal of radical effect, (2) the improvement of enzyme tolerance to organic solvent, and (3) the directed evolution of FAP by protein engineering. Further, the design of photobioreactor and enzyme engineering are elaborately discussed to enhance catalytic performance.