Posted on 02/27/2011 3:56:19 PM PST by Eleutheria5
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -A Massachusetts biotechnology company says it can produce the fuel that runs Jaguars and jet engines using the same ingredients that make grass grow.
Joule Unlimited has invented a genetically-engineered organism that it says simply secretes diesel fuel or ethanol wherever it finds sunlight, water and carbon dioxide.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based company says it can manipulate the organism to produce the renewable fuels on demand at unprecedented rates, and can do it in facilities large and small at costs comparable to the cheapest fossil fuels.
What can it mean? No less than "energy independence," Joule's web site tells the world, even if the world's not quite convinced.
"We make some lofty claims, all of which we believe, all which we've validated, all of which we've shown to investors," said Joule chief executive Bill Sims.
"If we're half right, this revolutionizes the world's largest industry, which is the oil and gas industry," he said. "And if we're right, there's no reason why this technology can't change the world."
The doing, though, isn't quite done, and there's skepticism Joule can live up to its promises.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory scientist Philip Pienkos said Joule's technology is exciting but unproven, and their claims of efficiency are undercut by difficulties they could have just collecting the fuel their organism is producing.
.....
oule claims, for instance, that its cyanobacterium can produce 15,000 gallons of diesel full per acre annually, over four times more than the most efficient algal process for making fuel. And they say they can do it at $30 a barrel.
See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/fSCFCE
(Excerpt) Read more at dailyfinance.com ...
Dad, buy your son that camel while you still can.
I am skeptical but the possibilities are awesome.
A new industry and jobs.
and
Terrorism would have to fund itself
I’m not so sure that’s not how it’s done now...on and beneath the sea-bottom.
If this one fails, another one will succeed, building on Joule’s research and mistakes. Petroleum will one day (soon, I hope) become obsolete.
$30 a barrel gasoline is equivalent to a little over a $1 per gallon gasoline. I can live with that. If this is so simple, and it works, why not do it now at $100/barrel oil?
Old News!
Welcome to Bell BioEnergy, Inc.
Welcome to Bell BioEnergy, Inc. Thank you for taking the time and having the interest to visit our web site. If you are like us, rising fuel prices and an uncertain future ...
bellbioenergy.com
Bell Bio-Energy, Department of Defense to build demonstration plants
TIFTON — The U.S. Department of Defense announced Friday that it has entered into an agreement with Bell Bio-Energy, Inc. to build seven demonstration plants to ...
tiftongazette.com/local/x323695827/Bell-Bio-Energy-Department-of-Defense-to-build
Evail private industry, with profit motive, RULES!!
That would be “evil”!
Math impairment alert!
A barrel is 42 gallons.
Maybe Obama will order the technology trasfer to the Muslim world as he is doing with NASA.
I’d hate to be downwind from a thousand acres of cyanobacterium.
Tree-living fungus that manufactures diesel could be new source of green energy
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:07 AM on 05th November 2008
Comments (20) Add to My Stories
Gliocladium roseum could be a completely new source of green energy
A tree-living fungus that manufactures diesel fuel has been discovered in South America.
Experts believe the organism, Gliocladium roseum, could potentially be a completely new source of green energy.
The fungus, which lives inside the Ulmo tree in the Patagonian rainforest, naturally produces hydrocarbon fuel similar to the diesel used in cars and trucks.
Scientists were amazed to find that it was able to convert plant cellulose directly into the biofuel, dubbed ‘myco-diesel’.
Crops normally have to converted to sugar and ferment before they can be turned into useful fuel.
Professor Gary Strobel, from Montana State University in the U.S., said: ‘G. roseum can make myco-diesel directly from cellulose, the main compound found in plants and paper.
‘This means if the fungus was used to make fuel, a step in the production process could be skipped.’
Prof Strobel led an investigation into novel fungi in the rainforests of northern Patagonia, which cross the borders of Argentina and Chile.
He found that when the diesel fuel fungus was exposed to potentially toxic antibiotics, it reacted defensively by generating volatile gases.
‘Then when we examined the gas composition of G. roseum, we were totally surprised to learn that it was making a plethora of hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon derivatives,’ said Prof Strobel.
‘The results were totally unexpected and very exciting and almost every hair on my arms stood on end.’
Cellulose provides the fibrous supporting structure of plants. During biofuel production, cellulose from plant waste is first treated with enzymes that turn it into sugar. Microbes then ferment the sugar into inflammable ethanol.
Nearly 430 million tonnes of plant waste is produced from farmland each year around the world.
Prof Strobel said: ‘We were very excited to discover that G. roseum can digest cellulose. Although the fungus makes less myco-diesel when it feeds on cellulose compared to sugars, new developments in fermentation technology and genetic manipulation could help improve the yield.
‘In fact, the genes of the fungus are just as useful as the fungus itself in the development of new biofuels.
‘The discovery also questions our knowledge of the way fossil fuels are made. The accepted theory is that crude oil, which is used to make diesel, is formed from the remains of dead plants and animals that have been exposed to heat and pressure for millions of years.
‘If fungi like this are producing myco-diesel all over the rainforest, they may have contributed to the formation of fossil fuels.’
The findings appear in the November issue of the journal Microbiology.
I only hope that it’s not sabotaged like innovations in this area have been done in the past. Why, I don’t know.
The EIA lists 2007 US Consumption of all forms of Distillate Fuel Oil ("Diesel") as 1,531,508,000 Barrels, or 64,323,336,000 US Gallons
64,323,336,000 gallons / 15,000 gallons/acre = 4288222.4 acres = ~6700 sq miles = Connecticut + Delaware
I understand Exxon-Mobile is partnering with and investing in a number of “alternative fuel” R&D outfits, exploring bio-engineered bacteria, algae and other sources.
I only offer this as a note, in as much as the “alternative fuels” race may (might) go to where ever the biggest R&D efforts are made.
If this is actually true, I’m sure the enviro-wackos in the US will tie them up in court for years to block their imagined impact on the environment. But that assumes this is actually true.
If this is actually true, I’m sure the enviro-wackos in the US will tie them up in court for years to block their imagined impact on the environment. But that assumes this is actually true.
Great. IF this were to be true, just think of the environmental damage when the organism gets loose.
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