Posted on 08/02/2010 3:42:46 AM PDT by Freelance Warrior
Genetically modified bacteria that munch on sugar to produce refinable fuels could bring down the cost of switching to cleaner energy.
Once the technology is fully developed, the company expects the alkane to cost around $50 per barrel, says del Cardayre.
"We have a one-step process to make alkane" in an industrial process, says Schirmer. "Basically, in goes the feedstock sugar and out comes the vehicle-ready fuel.
The bacteria can be grown on any sugar, including those produced from second-generation cellulose-based sources such as grasses and plant waste, which do not compete for land with food crops.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
Except - I'm not too sure about developing a bacteria that eats sugar. I mean what happens if it gets out into the wider world and starts munching on things we don't want it to...like our food reserves?
So, does that mean that if a human accidentally ingest this E. Coli bacteria...
...they’ll be drunk as a skunk until doctors can dose the person with enough antibiotics to kill it off?
A sugar solution is typical in breeding bacteria. That getting out effect can be close to zero if the hybrid is genetically modified in a way that it is able to live solely on a specially prepared food solution, difficult to be found outside.
That’ll be a safety until evolution presents itself by way of mutations that allow the bacteria to escape that constraint.
For something that reproduces at exponential rates, it won’t be long before it breaks the designed cage.
Ever hear of MRSA? Bacteria are very tough item.
No. The person’ll be poisoned like it would be having consumpted a glass of gasoline. The bacteria doesn’t prodice spirits.
Why do they have to experiment with bacteria that are part of our normal intestinal flora? Why not pick something that we don’t have in us?
Sure, but many valuable items are dangerous to handle too. Gasoline is an example.
A good reasonable question. But I have no answer for it!
Sounds like a nasty little booger to have in the wild, a bacteria that will eat pretty much anything.
Kudzu is about 80% sugar and I swear you can hear it growing after a good rain shower....
sounds like the govt to me..
Actually I think this is a promising source of energy. I’ve been following LS9’s progress on this for a couple of years now. They’ve recently purchased a facility in Florida to do their first test production.
A year ago, they had a target of 60$ a barrel cost equivalent, seems they’ve made some progress on that.
The Bacteria aren’t exactly e-coli. They’re genetically engineered and patented. The bacteria essentially are the inverse version of the “oil eating” bacteria that are used in oil clean up. Those bacteria consume oil, and excrete inert material - these do the opposite.
oh yeah, and the process is “carbon negative” - that is it absorbs carbon dioxide. The left hates this, and LS9 was denied any “stimulus” funds. It could make energy abundant, not require ANY new auto engines, and - decrease carbon dioxide.
Can’t have that.
Rest In Peace, old friend, your work is finished.....
If you want ON or OFF the DIESEL KnOcK LIST just FReepmail me.....
This is a fairly HIGH VOLUME ping list on some days.....
You lose weight and become healthier.
That will certainly help, but bacteria are adaptable items and, as has been said by other folk, there is a good possibility they will get out eventually. Of course, genetic engineering has moved on a bit since I was doing it. Maybe they can put more safety measures in, like it only grows on a certain sugar solution, in the presence of a chemical not found in nature, at a certain temperature, and a certain pressure, and....
LOL...not my PERSONAL food reserves! :)
Perhaps because E Coli isn’t harmful to humans (not usually anyway) and doesnt survive long outside of the human gut.
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