Dear Colleagues,

Drop-in biofuels started to attract interest because of the challenges faced by the two “conventional” biofuels (i.e., ethanol and biodiesel), which impeded the further expansion of their markets. Drop-in biofuels can be broadly defined as liquid hydrocarbons that are functionally equivalent to petroleum fuels and are fully compatible with existing petroleum infrastructure (Karatzos et al. 2014). Although the processes for the manufacture of drop-in biofuels use chemical catalysis, many of the precursors used in these processes can be produced by biological methods. Examples of these precursors include methanol, ethanol, butanol, iso-butanol, 2,3-butanediol, farnesene, fatty acids, and algal oil. Hydrogen, which is required in several steps of the drop-in biofuel production processes, can also be produced biologically.

The goal of this Special Issue is to publish recent innovative research results, as well as review papers on the production of the aforementioned drop-in biofuel precursors, as well as other precursors that are being developed. Review and research papers on the development of novel enzymes and microbial strains are also of interest. Since the focus of Fermentation is biological research and development, we will only consider papers that discuss the production of drop-in biofuel precursors via biological methods. For example, we will consider papers on the development of a fermentation process to grow a specific microalgal species with enhanced oil contents, but we will not consider papers on novel methods to mechanically or chemically recover and purify spent cooking oil.

If you would like to contribute a review paper, please contact one of the Editors to discuss the topic before submitting the manuscript.

Dr. Nhuan Nghiem
Prof. Dr. Tae Hyun Kim
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fermentation is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• drop-in biofuels
• methanol
• ethanol
• butanol
• 2,3-butanediol
• farnesene
• hydrogen
• algal oil
• sustainable aviation fuel
• renewable diesel