Global warming is alarming the world with a great discreet. Green house gases are the major cause for global warming. There were many researches prolonged for a long time to obtain a solution from escaping this disaster.
At last, the fruit ripened. A push to greenhouse gas emissions produced by burning fossil fuels was found by the researchers of UCLA Henry Samueli School of engineering and Applied science have developed a greener way to extract biofuel from bacteria. The team has genetically modified a cyanobacterium to consume carbon di oxide and produce the liquid fuel isobutanol, which holds great potential as a gasoline alternative. As an added bonus, that reaction is powered directly by energy from energy from sunlight, through photosynthesis. The method boasts dual benefits. Firstly, it reduces greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the burning of fossil fuels by recycling CO2. Secondly, it uses solar energy to convert the CO2 into a liquid fuel that can be used in the existing energy infrastructure, including in most cars.
While other alternatives to gasoline include deriving biofuels from plants or from algae, both of these processes require several intermediate steps before refinement into usable fuels. The research team says this new approach is potentially much more efficient and less expensive than the current approach as it avoids the need for biomass deconstruction, which is a major economic barrier for biofuel production.
Using the cyanobacterium Synechoccus elongates, first genetically increased the quantity of the carbon di oxide – fixing enzyme RuBiSCO. Then they spliced genes from other microorganisms to engineer a strain that intakes CO2 and sunlight and produces isobutyraldehyde gas. The low boiling point and vapour pressure of the gas allows it to easily be stripped from the system.
Although the engineered bacteria can produce isobutanol directly, the researchers say it is currently easier to use an existing and relatively inexpensive chemical catalysis process to convert isobutyraldehyde gas to isobutanol, as well as other useful petroleum-based products.
The researchers say that placing the new system next to existing fossil fuel burning power plants would be ideal, as it would potentially allow the green house gases emitted from the power plants to be captured and directly recycled into liquid fuel.
The great and awesome invention has a patch on it due to some drawbacks.
They are (i) inefficiency of light distribution
(ii)Bioreactor is very expensive
Researchers are struggling a lot for the solutions to these problems.
Let us hope earth be pristine…
INJEN-EXPERIENCE THE EXPERTISE
No comments:
Post a Comment