Patent ID: 8313934

Claim:
A method of producing a bioproduct from engineered microbial cells, comprising: (a) providing an aqueous fermentation broth comprising a crude carbon source; (b) inoculating said fermentation broth with microbial cells, engineered to enhance expression of one or more of a gene encoding an enzyme selected from the group consisting of thioesterase, acyl-CoA synthase, and ester synthase, and wherein a gene encoding an acyl-CoA dehydrogenase is attenuated or absent in the engineered microbial cells; (c) incubating the inoculated fermentation broth; (d) thereby producing and secreting a bioproduct; and (e) treating said fermentation broth with a hydrophobic solvent wherein a toxic side product present in said crude carbon source is soluble in said hydrophobic solvent.