First came the companies eager to turn corn, soybeans, sugar cane and other edible feedstock into ethanol and other fuels.
North Carolina State University wins $2.7 million federal grant to engineer superbug to create biofuel directly from microorganism
Then a second generation of start-ups began replacing the foodstuffs with cellulosic materials such as wood and grasses. Many are just now building large-scale plants to prove they can turn laboratory experiments into massive commercial production, including Amyris Biotechnologies, Codexis and ZeaChem.
Now a third-generation of biofuel makers is showing progress with novel laboratory work. This new wave is a sharp departure from the ways of the past and has interesting potential. It hopes to simplify manufacturing by avoiding the fermentation step of first and second generation companies and convert organisms directly into fuel using just carbon dioxide and sometimes sunlight.
It is an exciting prospect. Not only could these new ventures remake an industry, they could open the door to new ways to store solar energy (in a fuel!) and help remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
On the leading edge is Joule of Cambridge, MA. That company hopes a genetically engineered microorganism will directly produce fuel on large scale and hopes to demonstrate it with a Texas pilot project this summer. The process requires CO2 and sunlight.
Also pushing the dial is North Carolina State University, which received a Department of Energy ARPA-E grant of $2.7 million. The university’s experimental work makes use of microbial organisms called extremophiles that use CO2 and hydrogen (and no sunlight) to produce complex molecules that are building blocks for biofuels.
The primitive organisms live in hot fresh or salt water (167 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit) and evolved before photosynthesis developed. The lack of sunlight should make their growth cycle easier to manage.
The university plans to genetically engineer a “superbug” that will efficiently produce butanol. The work may take three years or more. But it is a promising side step around the large fermentation plants that define the industry today.
[...] are on their way to creating a commercially viable bio-fuel made from microbial organisms. From Techpulse 360: Now a third-generation of biofuel makers is showing progress with novel laboratory work. This new [...]
Hey, don’t forget Cow Patties…They produce quite a bit of bio fuel too!!
Ramona Kent
Author of
~Anomar’s Journey~
very interesting, thanks for sharing
This is an issue I know absolutely nothing about. That is why I love visiting other people’s blogs, you learn something new everytime. Thanks for posting this. Interesting read.
“The university’s experimental work makes use of microbial organisms called extremophiles that use CO2 and hydrogen (and no sunlight) to produce complex molecules that are building blocks for biofuels.
The primitive organisms live in hot fresh or salt water (167 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit) and evolved before photosynthesis developed. The lack of sunlight should make their growth cycle easier to manage.”
The university page you’ve linked to has a graphic showing hydrogen and CO2 going in, with fuel coming out. That’s a bit deceptive, because heat has to go in as well. (What’s going to heat the water?) Researching extremophiles may produce some useful insights, but practical solutions to biobutanol will ultimately lie elsewhere.
Butanol is a possible substitute for gasoline, and Joule is producing diesel fuel. All very exciting stuff, especially for getting us away from foreign oil. They will not, however remove CO2 from the atmosphere. I know Joule makes that claim on their website, but that’s a bit of marketing slight-of-hand. The production process removes CO2, but when you burn the fuel, it comes right back again. Burning these fuels is the exact opposite of producing them: H2O, CO2, and energy go in to make fuel, and H2O, CO2, and energy are what come out of your engine.
I saw something about this on TV about a year ago. Simply amazing. I think it’s much better than the stuff they are doing in NZ with trying to come up with some way to stop sheep and cows from belching.
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The article reminds me of an award winning “break trough”, of producing ethanol from lotus plants, made by some hi-school students at some science fair sometime ago. Problem there is that, after the praises and the hypes, there is not enough wasteland to culture those water lilies! I hope this report here is nothing sorts like that. And
“The university plans to genetically engineer a “superbug” that will efficiently produce butanol.” And I hope anybody’s tinkering with micro-organisms does not accidentally produce something as deadly or deadlier than the freak called A [h1n1]! I mean, I really feel that man should leave alone living things as they are and none of those micro-Frankenstein that everyone might be working in their cellar or garage!
As I understand what is proposed there is to artificially make superior agents of decay. Agents of decay will devour any bio thing no longer capable of regenerating. And there is one idea there that those natural organisms will be made highly voracious to be more effective at decaying. Well, I hope none of them will be munching on our nose or fingers while we are still living. Hala
I’ll have to keep looking intothis over the summer! I am very interested in micro-organisms that will produce biofuels. I am very into probiotics, and their effets on our human systems, I’d love to see them have a positive effect on the environment.
[...] http://techpulse360.com/2010/05/03/biofuel-3-0-a-third-wave-of-biofuels-emerges/ May 13, 2010 by chillyjr http://techpulse360.com/2010/05/03/biofuel-3-0-a-third-wave-of-biofuels-emerges/. [...]
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