![]() It takes approximately 100 molecules of glucose to produce 8 olefin molecules, and there’s the question of how much energy was put into the system in order to complete the transformation, and where that energy comes from. Processing hydrocarbons with microbes is inefficient. Still, there’s no such thing as a free lunch and there are challenges to bringing this process, and processes like it, into the world. This gives biofuel processes the potential to be renewable and carbon neutral. Those plants necessarily pull carbon out of the air as they grow, so the carbon released when the fuel is burned is the very same carbon which was removed from the atmosphere during its production. The glucose used to feed microbes is derived from plant biomass. But fuels derived from glucose are more environmentally friendly than the alternative. Using biologically produced hydrocarbons as a fuel source might seem like trading one combustive fuel for another, and that’s partly true. Some of these mirror the molecules present in common fuels like gasoline. The number of the bonds has an impact on the nature of the hydrocarbon and the sorts of materials they are used for. They are simply hydrogen and carbon with at least one double or triple bond. Olefins are simple hydrocarbons which are unsaturated, meaning they don’t contain any extraneous parts. Scientists then take these molecules and expose them to a catalyst known as niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5) to remove unwanted parts, leaving them with a collection of olefins. Part of the modification process included changing the bacteria so that they created molecules which carried less baggage and could be more easily reduced. The molecular chains they pump out carry too much oxygen and other atoms which need to be removed before they can be used for fuel. Bacteria are good at creating a great many things, but ready-use petrochemicals aren’t one of them. coli produce enzymes which convert the glucose into 3-hydroxy fatty acids.Īt this stage, the produce isn’t yet suitable for fuel usage. Some of that sugar is consumed to feed the bacteria and keep it alive, and in turn the E. The bacteria are fed glucose, a form of sugar. The bacteria were modified in order to become harmless to humans, a necessary step if the plan is to produce enough of them to scale the process to compete with existing industries. coli bacteria capable of acting as a factory for the production of complex molecules including some which can be used as a fuel source to replace existing petrochemicals. ![]() Researchers developed a modified strain of E. ![]() Their findings were published in the journal Nature Chemistry. Wang from the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Buffalo, and colleagues, describes a process by which modified microbes convert sugar into hydrocarbons to create fuels. And the need to develop alternative fuel sources is huge.Ī recent study by Zhen Q. The consequences of anthropogenic climate change are staggering and ongoing. ![]() That same relationship with fossil fuels has dumped incredible amounts of previously sequestered carbon into the atmosphere, warming the planet and eroding ecosystems. But all of these incredible advances come with a cost. We can even use those chemicals to send people to the Moon, and machines to other planets. By burning oil and other naturally occurring chemicals gathered from within the Earth, we can travel to distant locales by road or air. Humanity’s relationship with fossil fuels allowed us to build complex and efficient societies flush with incredible technology. Biofuels made by microbes could be merging cars onto the sugar rush speedway. ![]()
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