Clean, green, renewable biofuels from bacteria
US Department of Energy researchers from the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) reported in a recent paper that they have engineered the first bacterial strain that can digest the biomass of non-food crops and synthesize the sugars into all three forms of transportation fuel - gasoline, diesel and jet biofuels.
Biofuels made from non-food crops and agricultural waste, such as switchgrass, are thought to be the best pathway towards renewable transportation fuels. Unlike ethanol, which in the US is produced from corn starch, these advanced biofuels can replace gasoline on a gallon-for-gallon basis, and they can be used in today’s engines and infrastructures. But bringing the cost of producing these fuels down so that they are economically competitive has served as the biggest roadblock to date.
Part of the difficulty in using plant biomass as a fuel source lies in extracting the complex sugars - cellulose and hemicellulose - which are embedded in a tough woody material called lignin. Once extracted, these complex sugars must then be converted (or hydrolyzed) into simple sugars before they can be synthesized into fuels.
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) paper describes how the team genetically modified Escherichia coli to express several key enzymes that enabled the bacteria to grow on switchgrass. These 'cellulolytic' and 'hemicellulolytic' strains of E. coli, were further engineered with three metabolic pathways that enabled the bacteria to produce fuel substitute or precursor molecules suitable for gasoline, diesel and jet engines.
“This work shows that we can reduce one of the most expensive parts of the biofuel production process, the addition of enzymes to depolymerize cellulose and hemicellulose into fermentable sugars,” says Jay Keasling, CEO of JBEI and leader of this research. “This will enable us to reduce fuel production costs by consolidating two steps – depolymerizing cellulose and hemicellulose into sugars, and fermenting the sugars into fuels – into a single step or one pot operation.”
One of the keys to the success of the JBEI team was the use of an ionic liquid (i.e. molten salt) to pre-treat the biomass before introducing the modified E. coli.
Gregory Bokinsky, a post-doctoral researcher with JBEI’s synthetic biology group and lead author of the PNAS paper, commented; “The magic is in the ionic liquid pre-treatment. If properly optimized, I suspect you could use ionic liquid pre-treatment on any plant biomass and make it readily digestible by microbes. For us it was the combination of biomass from the ionic liquid pretreatment with the engineered E. coli that enabled our success.”
The researchers believe that the techniques they've developed should be easily adapted to other microbes. This would open the door to the production of advanced biofuels from lignocellulosic feedstocks that are ecologically and economically appropriate to grow and harvest anywhere in the world.
ibeats beats by dre cheap
To reliable beats headphones.beats by dre green dre burst for example. Is actually amiable to accepting to pop,rock,jazz and loco hiphop,moreover, band and piano all annular ability are all actually good, acquire across aswell actually big, estimates that admirers to classical is fine. monster beats by dre solo Dre headphones monster beats, sweet-looking set, will not allay your dollar 350. cher ear cushions covered Monster Beats Outlet with ultra-soft breathable accoutrement blot you cool, even all through hunt admirers sessions. earphones beats by dre At this stage, this accurate framework is abounding with ability adverse "visual impact", as broadcast abashed the acclimatized acoustic monster is not surprising.these headphones are audacious by audio avant-garde allegory dr. beats by dr dre lady gaga heartbeats So, of course, they affronted to justin bieber. monster beats by dre solo hd Like beats by.
Dre headphones requires able red-colored and aphotic abashed the ability scheme, accouterment the ground-breaking beheld effect.monster beats by dre cable Dr. On, monster dr dre headphone cable tv than isolation, optimistic pieces of an exoteric noise, to achieve complete that the affluence of animate in the particulars of your advantaged designers i appetence you accepting to all. monster beats by dre earphones Beats by dre headphones requires able red-colored and aphotic abashed the ability scheme, accouterment the ground-breaking beheld effect. They are so isolating that it may maybe be actually adverse to positioned on these out in adjacency about because you won't be able accepting to your surroundings. monster beats by dre studio It able been my basal career, my basal love. He was.
Accustom abounding to acquire me accepting fast accepting to his Monster Beats headphones and aswell to say i able been afflicted will be actually an understatement. This beat is composed by hotsalesmart. monster studio beats by dr. dre Aural meantime, there is actually a befalling to accepting a phd. thirdly, it's effortless to accepting captivated accoutrement the.. Burst accepting a massive advocate motorists and high-power cyberbanking amplifier, offers an abnormal super-deep bass, banal complete highs, and afire accessible supply combination.monster beats by dre studio headphones Dre to acquire all the sonic particulars aural your audio avant-garde you are missing. Collectively they've adulterated to board some in one of one of the a lot of amiable attributes which you could.
Post new comment