From the University of Georgia:
UGA discovery may allow scientists to make fuel from CO2 in the atmosphere
![Pyrococcus-1[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/pyrococcus-11.jpg?w=300&resize=300%2C225)
Now, researchers at the University of Georgia have found a way to transform the carbon dioxide trapped in the atmosphere into useful industrial products. Their discovery may soon lead to the creation of biofuels made directly from the carbon dioxide in the air that is responsible for trapping the sun’s rays and raising global temperatures.
“Basically, what we have done is create a microorganism that does with carbon dioxide exactly what plants do-absorb it and generate something useful,” said Michael Adams, member of UGA’s Bioenergy Systems Research Institute, Georgia Power professor of biotechnology and Distinguished Research Professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.
During the process of photosynthesis, plants use sunlight to transform water and carbon dioxide into sugars that the plants use for energy, much like humans burn calories from food.
These sugars can be fermented into fuels like ethanol, but it has proven extraordinarily difficult to efficiently extract the sugars, which are locked away inside the plant’s complex cell walls.
“What this discovery means is that we can remove plants as the middleman,” said Adams, who is co-author of the study detailing their results published March 25 in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. “We can take carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and turn it into useful products like fuels and chemicals without having to go through the inefficient process of growing plants and extracting sugars from biomass.”
The process is made possible by a unique microorganism called Pyrococcus furiosus, or “rushing fireball,” which thrives by feeding on carbohydrates in the super-heated ocean waters near geothermal vents. By manipulating the organism’s genetic material, Adams and his colleagues created a kind of P. furiosus that is capable of feeding at much lower temperatures on carbon dioxide.
The research team then used hydrogen gas to create a chemical reaction in the microorganism that incorporates carbon dioxide into 3-hydroxypropionic acid, a common industrial chemical used to make acrylics and many other products.
With other genetic manipulations of this new strain of P. furiosus, Adams and his colleagues could create a version that generates a host of other useful industrial products, including fuel, from carbon dioxide.
When the fuel created through the P. furiosus process is burned, it releases the same amount of carbon dioxide used to create it, effectively making it carbon neutral, and a much cleaner alternative to gasoline, coal and oil.
“This is an important first step that has great promise as an efficient and cost-effective method of producing fuels,” Adams said. “In the future we will refine the process and begin testing it on larger scales.”
The research was supported by the Department of Energy as part of the Electrofuels Program of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy under Grant DE-AR0000081.
UGA Bioenergy Systems Research Institute
The Bioenergy Systems Research Institute at the University of Georgia supports alternative energy, fuel and materials production through the conversion of biomass. The institute encourages and facilitates research projects in bioenergy that pool UGA’s strengths in forestry, environmental science and engineering with carbohydrate science, genetics and microbiology. The institute also supports education and training of scientists as well as outreach projects designed to involve public and private stakeholders in the development of next-generation bioenergy technologies. For more information about the institute, see bioenergy.ovpr.uga.edu.
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nightmare?
Perpetual Motion Indeed !!!!!
Boy, I can see this organism exploding into action, reducing the CO2 to a level where all plants die followed shortly by all animals. The ultimate Green fantasy!
“Excess carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere created by the widespread burning of fossil fuels is the major driving force of global climate change”
Really?
This is not going anywhere, we know that already. The efficiency of bacteria is about 3% only. Now look at the efficiency of solar panels, etc – and those are no good to solve our issues with an efficiency of ~17-20% (?). Interesting, but it’s not going to happen.
You can watch Seth Lloyd on Quantum Life on Youtube, where he explains the workings and efficiency of bacteria turning sunlight into energy through photosysthesis.
So let me get this straight…people have discovered how to create an artificial competitor to photosynthetic plants? One that will automatically compete with trees and our primary food crops for the CO2 in the atmosphere?
Are they planning to make it self-replicating, too? Good lord, don’t any of these people read science fiction?
If they need Hydrogen as a reactant after the creation of “…other genetic manipulations of this new strain…”, it is unlikely they will be able to get more energy out of the process than they put in to create this “fuel”.
More energy will be lost creating that Hydrogen than could ever be gained in the process. If they skip the Sun as an energy input, the energy has to come from somewhere.
The energy stored in Fossil Fuels is stored Solar energy.
This may be useful technology, but it needs to be applied to an organism which uses photosynthesis and sunlight in order to be useful in creating/storing fuel as an energy source.
Wow! So much wrong, so little time. Why don’t we start with this?
“Their discovery may soon lead to the creation of biofuels made directly from the carbon dioxide in the air that is responsible for trapping the sun’s rays and raising global temperatures.”
The stupid it burns.
1. Guys, Co2 is about 380 parts per million. Um ya’ll planning on burning a barrel of oil to make a thimble-full?
2. As far as I can tell, the CO2 impact on global temperatures cannot be detected.
3. Atmospheric CO2 is needed for all life on the planet, why don’t we slow down and consider what might happen if the research turns out to be really successful. This sounds like a bad movie. Mankind creates a superbug that eats all of the CO2. All plant life on the planet succumbs within a year, and the planet dies. Environmentalists are thrilled!
Oh, and my practical application would be dangerous as hell to the human race for the reasons noted above.
Reducing CO2 takes a lot of energy. Plants get that from sunlight, but it takes chlorophyll and a lot of leaves. And these bugs?
An early April Fools day!
Save the geothermal vents!
Oh no! Peak CO2!
Yay, we’re saved!!!
Well, Greenpeace has as two of their goals baning of all nuclear technologies (they don’t say whether they will make an exception for medicine so I guess not); and banning of all GM technologies. They will drum up their troops and tell them that this is a choice between turning the planet into Venus through CO2, and turning the planet into a lifeless desert through that CO2 bug.
Both will be non problems; CO2 for its inefficacy in warming the planet, that GM bacteria because it will be eaten by other organisms when outside its protected area. It produces SUGAR…
They are probably already filing FOIA requests to find out the names and addresses of the researchers and their families, as extremists in the US happen to do these days.
Matt says: March 27, 2013 at 12:12 am
This is not going anywhere, we know that already. The efficiency of bacteria is about 3% only. Now look at the efficiency of solar panels, etc – and those are no good to solve our issues with an efficiency of ~17-20% (?). Interesting, but it’s not going to happen.
Hi Matt..
Is it possible a bacteria may be cheaper than a solar panel? This may reflect upon the relative economics.
Algae?
DN says: March 27, 2013 at 12:12 am
So let me get this straight…people have discovered how to create an artificial competitor to photosynthetic plants? One that will automatically compete with trees and our primary food crops for the CO2 in the atmosphere?
Are they planning to make it self-replicating, too? Good lord, don’t any of these people read science fiction?
You make a good point … that is a very scary thought….. !!!!
But maybe this will have the positive effect of making nuclear power seem like a very benign and desirable alternative?
Ummm – and where does the energy to produce the hydrogen come from?
Robert M says:
March 27, 2013 at 12:14 am
Wow! So much wrong, so little time. Why don’t we start with this?
“Their discovery may soon lead to the creation of biofuels made directly from the carbon dioxide in the air that is responsible for trapping the sun’s rays and raising global temperatures.”
The stupid it burns.
1. Guys, Co2 is about 380 parts per million. Um ya’ll planning on burning a barrel of oil to make a thimble-full?
2. As far as I can tell, the CO2 impact on global temperatures cannot be detected.
3. Atmospheric CO2 is needed for all life on the planet, why don’t we slow down and consider what might happen if the research turns out to be really successful. This sounds like a bad movie. Mankind creates a superbug that eats all of the CO2. All plant life on the planet succumbs within a year, and the planet dies. Environmentalists are thrilled!
*
Nice. I agree with you. Just one small change to no. 3:
…All plant life succumbs within a year, and the planet dies. Environmentalists are devastated. With their dying breath, they rasp out a final lament: “We were too late… CO2 has done it.”
The fu@ur momisugly%ing tw@ur momisuglyts wouldn’t have a clue – right to the end!
As a cheap alternative to making bulk chemical precursors, using GM plants and microbes seems reasonable.
If it’s not economic then no-one will do it but to assume that it won’t ever pay its way is very luddite.
Sure, the science journalist doesn’t know any science but the researchers might.
Technology need not be scary and evil. I took the headline to be a joke on Greenpeace not an editorial to be taken seriously.
Sorry, can’t get past “…global climate change….” and “…carbon dioxide in the air that is responsible for trapping the sun’s rays and raising global temperatures.”
I suppose they are fishing for a fat tax-payer funded grant.
if only the CAGW funding would dry up! our soon-to-be-ousted australian govt is having a final fling at keeping the game alive, but no-one’s listening:
27 March: Age: Peter Hannam: Carbon tax ‘crucial’ to Australia’s global standing: Combet
An Abbott government would risk Australia’s international reputation and undermine its economic interests if it scrapped the carbon tax, Climate Change Minister Greg Combet told a joint climate forum with China.
Mr Combet told the forum in Sydney, which included Chinese National Development and Reform Commission vice-president Xie Zhenhua, that by scrapping the tax it would sever Australia’s links with global moves to put a price on emissions…
Mr Combet’s comments came as modelling by research group RepuTex found abolishing the carbon tax would effectively halt investment in the renewable energy sector overnight without other changes to support the industry.
Opposition climate action spokesman Greg Hunt rejected the research as out-of-line with industry assessments. He said the Coalition supported the 20 per cent renewable energy target.
“In particular, the finding contradicts claims by others in the industry that Australia is on to track easily achieve and potentially exceed the 20 per cent figure. As the industry makes clear, the RET drives renewable energy not the carbon tax,” he said…
‘‘To pretend that Australia lives in a vacuum, and that we can repeal the most cost-effective way of reducing emissions in our economy, is a complete fantasy,’’ he said.
Mr Hunt dismissed the claim that Australia’s reputation would suffer if it dumped the carbon price.
“The US, Canada, Japan have all walked away from (emissions trading) schemes,” he said. “Unfortunately, the government is desperate to pretend that other countries are imposing such massive increases in electricity prices on their citizens.”
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/carbon-tax-crucial-to-australias-global-standing-combet-20130327-2gu3c.html
I don’t understand what energy source this organism requires. Is it the Hydrogen mentioned in the write up? And if so, wouldn’t the successful creation of such a biofuel be in violation of the first law of thermodynamics?
In what way is this organism superior to a green plant ?
I am always sceptic about such stories (like about AGW :-))
This may work in the lab, but not on industrial scale.