Cracking cellulose: a step into the biofuels future

Scientists from the University of York have played a pivotal role in a discovery which could finally unlock the full potential of waste plant matter to replace oil as a fuel source.

Professor Paul Walton and Professor Gideon Davies, of the University's Department of Chemistry, were part of an international team that has found a method to overcome the chemical intractability of cellulose, thus allowing it to be converted efficiently into bioethanol.

Working with scientists in Novozymes laboratories at Davis, California, and Bagsvaerd, Denmark, as well as researchers at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Cambridge, they identified the molecular mechanism behind an enzyme found in fungi which can degrade the cellulose chains of plant cell walls to release shorter sugars for biofuels.

This represents a major breakthrough as cellulose is the world's most abundant biopolymer. Global generation of cellulose is equivalent in energy to 670 billion barrels of oil – some 20 times the current annual global oil consumption. The discovery opens the way for the industrial production of fuels and chemicals from plentiful and renewable cellulose in waste plant matter.

The research, which is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), removes the major constraint on the production of bioethanol from cellulose the stability of which had previously thwarted previous efforts to make effective use of it for biofuels.

The researchers found a way of initiating effective oxidative degeneration of cellulose using the copper-dependent TaGH61 enzyme to overcome the chemical inertness of the material.

Professor Davies, much of whose work on plant cell-wall degradation is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, said: "Cracking cellulose represents one of the principal industrial and biotechnological challenges of the 21st century. Industrial production of fuels and chemicals from this plentiful and renewable resource holds the potential to displace petroleum-based sources, thus reducing the associated economic and environmental costs of oil and gas production. Events at Fukushima and the continuing instability in major oil producing countries only highlight the need for a balanced energy portfolio."

Professor Walton added: "This discovery opens up a major avenue in the continuing search for environmentally friendly and secure energy. The potential of bioethanol to make a major contribution to sustainable energy really now is a reality."

Claus Crone Fuglsang, Managing Director at Novozymes' research labs in Davis, California said: "Scientists have worked to figure out how to break down plant matter for the past 50-60 years. The impressive effect of GH61 was established a few years back and today it is a key feature of our Cellic CTec products.

"Fully understanding the mechanism behind GH61 is important in the context of commercial production of biofuel from plant waste and a true scientific paradigm shift. This discovery will continue to drive advances in production of other biobased chemicals and materials in the future."

Leila Lo Leggio, Group Leader of the Biophysical Chemistry Group at the Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, said: "As a team of academic scientists, it is particularly rewarding when our basic research in the three-dimensional structure and chemistry of proteins also contributes to possible solutions for one of the major challenges our society is facing."

Professor Paul Dupree of the University of Cambridge Bioenergy Initiative and Director of the BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Cell Wall Sugars programme, said "Understanding the GH61 enzyme activity is one of the most significant recent advances in the area of biomass deconstruction and release of cell wall sugars."

Provided by University of York

Panda poop may be a treasure trove of microbes for making biofuels

 

Panda poop contains bacteria with potent effects in breaking down plant material in the way needed to tap biomass as a major new source of “biofuels” produced not from corn and other food sources, but from grass, wood chips and crop wastes, scientists reported today at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

“Who would have guessed that ‘panda poop’ might help solve one of the major hurdles to producing biofuels, which is optimizing the breakdown of the raw plant materials used to make the fuels?” said study co-author Ashli Brown, Ph.D. “We hope our research will help expand the use of biofuels in the future and help cut dependency on foreign oil. We also hope it will reinforce the importance of wildlife conservation.”

Brown pointed out that bacteria from the giant panda are particularly promising for breaking down the super-tough plant material known as lignocellulose in switch grass, corn stalks and wood chips. That advance could speed the development of so-called cellulosic biofuels made from these tough plant materials in a way that doesn’t rely on precious food crops such as corn, soybeans and sugar now used for making biofuels, she noted.

Scientists have long known that giant pandas — like termites and cattle — have bacteria in their digestive systems to break down the cellulose in plants into nutrients. Bamboo constitutes about 99 percent of the giant panda’s diet in the wild. An adult may eat 20-40 pounds of bamboo daily — leaves stems, shoots and all. Until the energy crunch fostered interest in biofuels, however, scientists never thought to parse out exactly what microbes in the giant panda gastrointestinal system were involved in digestion.

Brown and colleagues, including graduate student Candace Williams, collected and analyzed the fresh feces of a pair of male and female pandas at the Memphis Zoo for over a year. They identified several types of digestive bacteria in the panda feces, including some that are similar to those found in termites, which are renowned for their ability to digest wood.

“Our studies suggest that bacteria species in the panda intestine may be more efficient at breaking down plant materials than termite bacteria and may do so in a way that is better for biofuel manufacturing purposes,” said Brown, who is with Mississippi State University.

Based on other studies, Brown estimated that under certain conditions these panda gut bacteria can convert about 95 percent of plant biomass into simple sugars. The bacteria contain enzymes — highly active substances that speed up chemical reactions — so powerful that they can eliminate the need for high heat, harsh acids and high pressures currently used in biofuel production processes, she said. Those processes also tend to be time- and energy-intensive, as well as expensive. Panda bacteria could therefore provide a faster, cleaner and less costly way to make biofuels.

Brown is currently trying to identify every intestinal bacterium in the giant panda in order to isolate the most powerful digestive enzymes for biofuel production and other purposes. She noted that scientists could use well-established genetic engineering technology to put the genes that produce those enzymes into yeasts. The yeasts then would produce the enzymes and could be grown on a commercial scale to provide large amounts of enzymes for a biofuel industry.

“The discovery also teaches a lesson about the importance of biodiversity and preserving endangered animals,” Brown said, noting that less than 2,500 giant pandas remain in the wild and about 200 are in captivity. “Animals and plants are a major source of medicines and other products that people depend on. When we lose them to extinction, we may lose potential sources of these products.”

The U.S. Department of Energy, The Memphis Zoological Society, the Mississippi Corn Promotion Board, and the Southeastern Research Center at Mississippi State provided funding for this study.

Provided by American Chemical Society (news : web)

Learning secrets of world's most common organic compound driving research for biofuels

Preliminary research at Kansas State University may make a difference one day at the gas pump.

Many scientists believe that cellulose, the most common organic compound on earth, has enough energy to be the next source for biofuels -- if a procedure to effectively break it down could be devised. Cellulose is a cell wall component that gives plants their rigidity.

Kathrin Schrick, assistant professor in Kansas State University's Division of Biology, has been awarded nearly $900,000 for the next four years from the National Science Foundation to investigate the role sterols, fat-soluble molecules, play in the cell's production of cellulose.

"If we can understand how it is made and how to break it down into simple sugars, then we can generate energy," Schrick said. "We know that sterols are important in making cellulose, but we are not clear how they work. This grant is funding research that should help us with that."

Cellulose is composed of complex fibers made of sugar. Since its strength functions to keep plant tissue sturdy, it also makes it difficult to break down, Schrick said. It requires harsh pretreatment and expensive enzymes, so Schrick hopes her research will provide an understanding of how cellulose is made, which might give insight on how to break it down more easily.

"Not even the structure of cellulose synthase, the enzyme responsible for activating cellulose machinery, is known. We can model it, we can imagine how it looks but we don't really know, and we know even less about how it functions," Schrick said.

Schrick has two hypotheses for sterols' association with the cellulose machinery. She believes that sterols either help to stabilize the construction of cellulose, or they transfer glucose residues to the machinery to make cellulose.

"We know that the machinery that builds cellulose sits in the plasma membrane. Our hypothesis is that the protein complex that makes cellulose actually needs to directly interact with sterols to function properly," she said.

Her hypotheses came from her discovery of a mutation in a dwarf Arabidopsis plant, a common model species used in scientific research. The mutant plant produces about 50 percent less cellulose than normal plants, causing the plant to be smaller and unable to reach maturity in the wild. Schrick went on to discover that mutations in several enzymes, required for the biosynthesis of sterols, affect the amount of cellulose produced.

"The sterol biosynthesis mutants have shown us that sterols are critical for cellulose synthesis, but we still don't understand why. We are using the latest tools to solve the problem at the molecular level, which will potentially lead to advances in the development of biofuels," she said.

Schrick is collaborating with several scientists nationally and internationally. Among them are Seth DeBolt at the University of Kentucky, a co-principle investigator on the grant, and Vincent Bulone at the Division of Glycosciences in the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

Bulone was one of the first scientists to efficiently synthesize cellulose outside of the cell by gathering all the necessary components needed to build cellulose fibers in a test tube. The level of cellulose synthase activity achieved in Bulone's lab represents the highest proportion of cellulose reported from in vitro synthesis to date, Schrick said.

Provided by Kansas State University (news : web)

Scientists find way to identify synthetic biofuels in atmosphere

Scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science have discovered a technique to track urban atmospheric plumes thanks to a unique isotopic signature found in vehicle emissions.

Brian Giebel, a Marine and Atmospheric Chemistry graduate student working with Drs. Daniel Riemer and Peter Swart discovered that ethanol mixed in vehicle fuel is not completely burned, and that ethanol released in the engine's exhaust has a higher 13C to 12C ratio when compared to natural emissions from most living plants. In other words, the corn and sugarcane used to make biofuels impart a unique chemical signature that is related to the way these plants photosynthesize their nutrients.

The team suggests that ethanol's unique chemical signature can be used during aircraft sampling campaigns to identify and track plumes as they drift away from urban areas. The results of their efforts, titled "New Insights to the Use of Ethanol in Automotive Fuels: A Stable Isotopic Tracer for Fossil- and Bio-Fuel Combustion Inputs to the Atmosphere" appears in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Giebel collected and analyzed air from downtown Miami and the Everglades National Park and found that 75% of ethanol in Miami's urban air came from synthetic biofuels, while the majority of ethanol in the Everglades air was emitted from plants, even though a small quantity of city pollution from a nearby road floats into the park.

Air samples from the two locations were subjected to a precise scientific process, first separating the elements using gas chromatography, and then burning each component. The resulting carbon dioxide was put through a mass spectrometer, where the researchers were able to measure the abundance of each carbon isotope.

"According to global emissions estimates, plants release three times as much ethanol as man-made sources," said Giebel. "However, if the amount of ethanol used in our fuel continues to increase, vehicle emissions should eventually exceed natural emissions. This is particularly critical in urban areas because the majority of ethanol in the atmosphere is converted to acetaldehyde, which is highly reactive and considered to be a toxin detrimental to human health."

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Journal Reference:

Brian M. Giebel, Peter K. Swart, Daniel D. Riemer. New Insights to the Use of Ethanol in Automotive Fuels: A Stable Isotopic Tracer for Fossil- and Bio-Fuel Combustion Inputs to the Atmosphere. Environmental Science & Technology, 2011; 45 (15): 6661 DOI: 10.1021/es200982t

Computational chemistry shows the way to safer biofuels

Replacing gasoline and diesel with plant-based bio fuels is crucial to curb climate change. But there are several ways to transform crops to fuel, and some of the methods result in bio fuels that are harmful to health as well as nature.

Now a study from the University of Copenhagen shows that it is possible to predict just how toxic the fuel will become without producing a single drop. This promises cheaper, faster and above all safer development of alternatives to fossil fuel.

Solvejg Jorgensen is a computational chemist at the Department of Chemistry in Copenhagen. Accounts of her new computational prediction tool are published in acclaimed scientific periodical The Journal of Physical Chemistry A.

Among other things the calculations of the computer chemist show that bio fuels produced by the wrong synthesis path will decompose to compounds such as health hazardous smog, carcinogenic particles and toxic formaldehyde. Previously an assessment of the environmental impact of a given method of production could not be carried out until the fuel had actually been made. Now Jorgensen has shown that various production methods can be tested on the computer. This will almost certainly result in cheaper and safer development of bio fuels.

"There is an almost infinite number of different ways to get to these fuels. We can show the least hazardous avenues to follow and we can do that with a series of calculations that take only days", explains Jorgensen.

Chemically bio fuel is composed of extremely large molecules. As they degrade during combustion and afterwards in the atmosphere they peel of several different compounds. This was no big surprise. That some compounds are more toxic than others did not come as a revelation either but Jorgensen was astonished to learn from her calculations that there is a huge difference in toxicity depending on how the molecules were assembled during production. She was also more than a little pleased that she could calculate very precisely the degradation mechanisms for a bio fuel molecule and do it fast.

"In order to find the best production method a chemist might have to test thousands of different types of synthesis. They just can't wait for a method that takes months to predict the degradation mechanisms", explains Jorgensen who continues: "On the other hand: For a chemist who might spend as much as a year trying to get the synthesis right it would be a disaster if their method leads to a toxic result".

It seems an obvious mission to develop a computational tool that could save thousands of hours in the lab. But Solvejg Jorgensen wasn't really all that interested in bio fuels. What she really wanted to do was to improve existing theoretical models for the degradation of large molecules in the atmosphere.

To this end she needed some physical analysis to compare to her calculations. Colleagues at the Department of Chemistry had just completed the analysis of two bio fuels. One of these would do nicely. But Jorgensen made a mistake. And instead of adding just another piece to a huge puzzle she had laid the foundation for a brand new method.

"I accidentally based my calculations on the wrong molecule, so I had to start over with the right one. This meant I had two different calculations to compare. These should have been almost identical but they were worlds apart. That's when I knew I was on to something important", says Solvejg Jorgensen, who has utilised her intimate knowledge of the theoretical tool density functional theory and the considerable computing power of the University of Copenhagen.

Provided by University of Copenhagen

Computational chemistry shows the way to safer biofuels

 Replacing gasoline and diesel with plant-based bio fuels is crucial to curb climate change. But there are several ways to transform crops to fuel, and some of the methods result in bio fuels that are harmful to health as well as nature.

Now a study from the University of Copenhagen shows that it is possible to predict just how toxic the fuel will become without producing a single drop. This promises cheaper, faster and above all safer development of alternatives to fossil fuel.

Solvejg Jorgensen is a computational chemist at the Department of Chemistry in Copenhagen. Accounts of her new computational prediction tool are published in acclaimed scientific periodical The Journal of Physical Chemistry A.

Among other things the calculations of the computer chemist show that bio fuels produced by the wrong synthesis path will decompose to compounds such as health hazardous smog, carcinogenic particles and toxic formaldehyde. Previously an assessment of the environmental impact of a given method of production could not be carried out until the fuel had actually been made. Now Jorgensen has shown that various production methods can be tested on the computer. This will almost certainly result in cheaper and safer development of bio fuels.

"There is an almost infinite number of different ways to get to these fuels. We can show the least hazardous avenues to follow and we can do that with a series of calculations that take only days," explains Jorgensen.

Chemically bio fuel is composed of extremely large molecules. As they degrade during combustion and afterwards in the atmosphere they peel of several different compounds. This was no big surprise. That some compounds are more toxic than others did not come as a revelation either but Jorgensen was astonished to learn from her calculations that there is a huge difference in toxicity depending on how the molecules were assembled during production. She was also more than a little pleased that she could calculate very precisely the degradation mechanisms for a bio fuel molecule and do it fast.

"In order to find the best production method a chemist might have to test thousands of different types of synthesis. They just can't wait for a method that takes months to predict the degradation mechanisms," explains Jorgensen who continues: "On the other hand: For a chemist who might spend as much as a year trying to get the synthesis right it would be a disaster if their method leads to a toxic result."

It seems an obvious mission to develop a computational tool that could save thousands of hours in the lab. But Solvejg Jorgensen wasn't really all that interested in bio fuels. What she really wanted to do was to improve existing theoretical models for the degradation of large molecules in the atmosphere.

To this end she needed some physical analysis to compare to her calculations. Colleagues at the Department of Chemistry had just completed the analysis of two bio fuels. One of these would do nicely. But Jorgensen made a mistake. And instead of adding just another piece to a huge puzzle she had laid the foundation for a brand new method.

"I accidentally based my calculations on the wrong molecule, so I had to start over with the right one. This meant I had two different calculations to compare. These should have been almost identical but they were worlds apart. That's when I knew I was on to something important," says Solvejg Jorgensen, who has utilised her intimate knowledge of the theoretical tool density functional theory and the considerable computing power of the University of Copenhagen.

The article is published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry A with the title: Atmospheric Chemistry of Two Biodiesel Model Compounds: Methyl Propionate and Ethyl Acetate.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations ) from materials provided by University of Copenhagen.

Journal Reference:

Vibeke F. Andersen, Tesfaye A. Berhanu, Elna J. K. Nilsson, Solvejg Jorgensen, Ole John Nielsen, Timothy J. Wallington, Matthew S. Johnson. Atmospheric Chemistry of Two Biodiesel Model Compounds: Methyl Propionate and Ethyl Acetate. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2011; : 110728091620061 DOI: 10.1021/jp204819d

DSM strengthens yeast technology leadership for 2G biofuels

 Royal DSM announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire C5 Yeast Company B.V. from Royal Cosun. The acquisition will allow DSM to combine C5 Yeast Company’s business with its own advanced yeast and enzyme technologies for second generation biofuels, further increasing its leadership position in this field. Financial details of the acquisition will not be disclosed. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary approvals and notifications.

DSM already has a unique position in the development of second generation biofuels (cellulosic ethanol derived from agricultural residues and non-edible crops), being the only company capable of offering both enzyme and yeast fermentation technologies to increase conversion rates to make the technology commercially viable. The yield of DSM’s advanced yeast technology for second generation bio-fuels on cellulose derived C5/C6 sugars can exceed 90% conversion rate, recent tests have shown.

Microorganisms such as yeast are essential to the biofuel production process as they are needed to convert the fermentable sugars generated by enzymes from biomass into ethanol. There are two primary classes of fermentable sugars that are liberated from cellulosic biomass during hydrolysis, six carbon sugars (C6) and five carbon sugars (C5). Typically yeasts only consume C6 sugars, but DSM’s advanced yeast technology is capable of converting both C6 and C5 sugars to ethanol. DSM wants to be the technology provider for the second generation biorefineries, providing enzymes to convert the biomass into a sugar mix and yeast to convert the C6 sugars as well as the C5 sugars. DSM is convinced this will be a winning combination.

C5 Yeast Company has developed a key yeast technology and extensive patent position with its team of R&D experts. The acquisition of C5 Yeast Company adds additional technology for the conversion of specific fractions of biomass (C5 sugars/arabinose) to DSM’s portfolio, allowing DSM to further optimize its yeast technology.

Rob van Leen, Chief Innovation Officer at DSM said: “This acquisition represents a key strategic step as we further strengthen our existing yeast platform and portfolio of bio-conversion technologies for second generation biofuels and biomaterials. We further increase our leadership position in the field of fermentation technology for mixed sugars derived from agricultural residues and non-edible crops. With our bright science and strong technology position we are bringing second generation biofuels closer to mass-scale production, reducing society’s dependence on fossil feed stocks and avoiding the food versus fuel dilemma.”

Salt-loving microbe provides new enzymes for the production of next-gen biofuels

In order to realize the full potential of advanced biofuels that are derived from non-food sources of lignocellulosic biomass—e.g., agricultural, forestry, and municipal waste, and crops such as poplar, switchgrass and miscanthus—new technologies that can efficiently and cost-effectively break down this biomass into simple sugars are required. Existing biomass pretreatment technologies are typically derived from the pulp and paper industry and rely on dilute acids and bases to break down the biomass. The treated biomass product is then exposed to biological catalysts, or enzymes, to liberate the sugars.

A new class of solvents, referred to as ionic liquids, have been reported to be much more efficient in treating the biomass and enhancing the yield of sugars liberated from it. While ionic liquids are useful for breaking down biomass, they can also hinder the ability of the cellulases (usually derived from fungi) used to produce sugars after pretreatment. Ionic liquids are a liquid form of salt that will inactivate enzymes by interfering with the folding of polypeptides—the building-blocks of proteins. To help identify new enzymes that are tolerant of ionic liquids, researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) at DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are turning to those found in the complete genome sequences of halophilic (salt-tolerant) organisms.

As a test of this bioenergy-related application of DNA sequencing and enzyme discovery, researchers led by the Director of the DOE JGI, Eddy Rubin, and the Vice-President of the JBEI Deconstruction Division, Blake Simmons, employed a cellulose-degrading enzyme from a salt-tolerant microbe that was isolated from the Great Salt Lake. The microbe in question, Halorhabdus utahensis, is from the branch of the tree of life known as Archaea; H. utahensis was isolated from the natural environment at the Great Salt Lake and sequenced at the DOE JGI as part of the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea (GEBA) project.

"This is one of the only reports of salt-tolerant cellulases, and the only one that represents a true 'genome-to-function' relevant to ionic liquids from a halophilic environment," said Simmons of the study published June 30, 2011 in Green Chemistry. "This strategy enhances the possibility of identifying true obligatory halophilic enzymes." Such salt-tolerant enzymes, particularly cellulases, offer significant advantages for industrial utility over conventional enzymes.

In collaboration with Jerry Eichler from Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel they cloned and expressed a gene from H. utahensis in another haloarchaeal microbe, and were able to identify a salt-dependent enzyme that can tolerate high temperatures and is resistant to ionic liquids. "This project has established a very important link between genomic science and the realization of enzymes that can handle very demanding chemical environments, such as those present in a biorefinery," said Simmons.

The group plans to expand this research to develop a full complement of enzymes that is tailored for the ionic liquid process technology with the goal of demonstrating a complete biomass-to-sugar process, one they hope can enable the commercial viability of advanced biofuels.

Provided by DOE/Joint Genome Institute (news : web)

Putting the 'fuel' in biofuels

Recent discussions of methods by which biomass -- grasses, trees, and other vegetation -- could be turned into fuel makes a lot of sense in theory. Plant matter is composed of energy-intensive carbohydrates, but even now scientists still don't have the perfect solution for converting plant sugars into combustible fuels.

"There's a real challenge in the catalysis and conversion process that we face, which is that nature and evolution have already fashioned far better catalysts than we could create on our own—namely enzymes," said materials scientist Christopher Marshall, who leads the Institute for Atom-Efficient Chemical Transformations (IACT) at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory. "In order to aid the transition away from a petroleum-based economy, we have to take our cues from the catalysts that have existed for millions of years."

Using actual biological enzymes would not be a workable solution, since enzymes work too slowly to be effective. For the purposes of converting biomass to biofuels, researchers need to synthesize biologically-inspired inorganic catalysts that balance the need for molecular specificity and high reaction rates.

"When it comes to catalyst discovery, everything's based around a particular set of trade-offs," Marshall said.

Potential catalysts for biofuel production have traditionally come from the precious metals and their elemental cousins. According to Marshall, scientists have found an increasing spectrum of applications first for platinum, and then for a platinum-molybdenum hybrid. "Slightly different chemistries can produce dramatically different results both in terms of efficiencies and specificities," he said. "We're really just trying to fashion the best molecular jigsaw pieces we can to fit this larger puzzle."

IACT was founded in 2009 as part of the DOE's effort to establish a set of several dozen Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) around the country that would contain five-year interdisciplinary programs focused around discrete scientific challenges. As part of the overall effort to transform the energy economy, Argonne also leads research into improved lithium-ion battery technology and new photovoltaic devices that can better capture solar energy.

Converting biomass to biofuels requires the use of a great deal of hydrogen, an element that Marshall said can be hard to manufacture. "The current methods of getting the hydrogen we need to do the conversion require the input of just as much energy as we'd get out of the fuels we'd be trying to create," he said. "In order to really get biofuels to take off, we first have to tackle the problem of where we're going to get all the hydrogen we need."

Because hydrogen is contained within the carbohydrate backbone of plant matter, ideally scientists hope to find a self-sustaining process in which the hydrogen needed for the conversion of biomass to biofuels can be extracted from the biomass itself. To do so requires the development of robust inorganic materials based on nanotechnology that can improve the multistep process of going from woodchipper to gas tank.

Researchers who collaborate in the IACT come from a variety of different technical backgrounds, including materials design, synthesis and characterization, theoretical chemistry and computational studies. "By combining all of these approaches, we hope to gain an understanding of how these key reactions work and how we can optimize the effectiveness of these catalysts both in terms of their selectivity and their rate of reaction. We want to use these catalysts as scalpels, not chainsaws," Marshall said.

Provided by Argonne National Laboratory (news : web)

Solix Biofuels Raises Money, Changes Name

Algae-growing firm Solix Biofuels has raised $16 million in a second round of venture capital funding. It has also changed its name to Solix BioSystems “to better reflect its role as a leading provider of algae production systems.”

Solix BioSystems' Lumian AGS4000, an algae grower. Credit: Solix BioSystems

There are many, many firms working hard right this moment trying to make money by growing algae for biofuel. Solix joins at least one other firm – OriginOil – in looking to make money from firms looking to make money with algae.

The first two most difficult things about using algae as a feedstock for biofuels is 1) growing algae and 2) growing a lot of algae.

But growing some algae isn’t THAT difficult, it’s really just complicated. Solix BioSystems is aiming to solve that problem by marketing a complete system that will get you up and running. The system has a culture capacity of 4000 liters. Which gives the algal entrepreneur a test bed and growth area for one or more of his or her favorate strains. The outdoor arrangement grows algae in large narrow plastic bags suspended in a pool of water, with CO2 bubbles (and sunshine that you supply) to feed the algae.

It is interesting to note the additional support structure included to keep the algae growing and content. The support system trailer handles preparation, dosing, harvesting, cleaning… and features  ”programmable sparge timing.” I don’t know what the cost would be to scale up this sort of system, but it seems it may be expensive.

So, growing algae – check. Scaling up – unknown. The second set of challenges includes separating the oil from the water and the algae. Origin Oil, which makes a very different sort of photobioreactor, has an answer for this one. I can’t explain it, but the video reminds me of a lava lamp and is very groovy.

If you would be interested in trying your hand at building a small photobioreactor for algae, InventGeek has the instructions.