Lab makes renewable diesel fuel from E. coli poop?
- added August 12, 2008
- 8 responses
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- ivxx
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SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, California -- Fossil fuels that keep our planet running -- oil, natural gas and coal -- were created from the decomposition of plants, plankton and other organic material over millions of years.
Today, scientists all over the globe are working to create fuels with the same properties but without that pesky 100 million-year wait. And "renewable petroleum" is now a reality, on a small scale, in some laboratories.
The biotech company LS9 Inc. is using single-celled bacteria to create an oil equivalent. These petroleum "production facilities" are so small, you can see them only under a microscope.
"We started in my garage two years ago, and we're producing barrels today, so things are moving pretty quickly," said biochemist Stephen del Cardayre, LS9 vice president of research and development.
How does it work? A special type of genetically altered bacteria are fed plant material: basically, any type of sugar. They digest it and excrete the equivalent of diesel fuel.
Humans have used bacteria and yeast for centuries to do similar work, creating beer, moonshine and, more recently, ethanol. But scientists' recent strides in genetic engineering now allow them to control the end product.
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Does this oil produce less C02 and pollution than the oil pumped from oil-wells when it is used as a fuel?
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I think it is great when advances in energy production are reached. I do not know how much "poop" would be required to fuel big diesel rig. I imagine that it would take quite a load.
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Cool.
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So what happens when these escape from a lab or production plant? What if they land on grain crops? They'd be eating the sugars in the corn and poopin out deisel fuel. Anybody want diesel on the cobb?
Anybody have any idea how long it would be before you could grow crops again on fields that are saturated with diesel oil?
And they would get in the water supplies.
The entire planet would be a fire hazard before very long. You'd have to stay away from rivers and lakes----diesel fuel floats, and it burns, and the water would carry it everywhere the water goes.
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There is NOTHING that has ever come out of Hollywood in even the most fantastic horror movie that would even begin to compare with the dangers I can see from these bacteria ever getting loose.
Even with only a few minutes of thought about the possibilities.
E. Coli are a natural bacteria in everyones gut---anybody want a bunch of E. Coli taking up residence in your gut and producing diesel oil out of anything you eat? I don't think that would be very pleasant. -
I run my cars on chicken and tortoise poo. I can honsestly say, it's rare when it's about to run out!
It's cheap, I only took it to a garge for modifications for a total of £250 each around 2 years ago now. My Nissan Micra and Renault Espace NEVER stink and they only have ever broken down with the old engines and suspension, my mark 2 Espace is 13 years old now, wheras the Nissan is 9, so you can't say it's bad that the Espace has only broken down 2 times and the Micra 1, I can overall just say it was the best move I made.
Only, they still do have large amounts of CO2 admissions of course as they are burned also, but they are still cheaper then peterol or a tiny dangerous electric car. But I'll be thrilled when hydro and air fueled cars improve. Untill then, thre's no better solution. (But keep a small amount of peterol in the old spare tank incase of an emergency)
