Will tomorrow’s cars run on fungi fuel? As gas prices are set to rise, I thought it’d be interesting to point to recent biomass fuel efforts by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories. The Sandia team is modifying an endophytic fungus so that it will produce hydrocarbons, which work well as fuels for internal combustion engines. According to Sandia biochemist Masood Hadi, the fungi digest crystalline cellulosic material and produce fuel-type hydrocarbons as a by-product of their metabolic processes — an event that requires no mechanical breakdown.

Through genetic manipulation, the scientists hope to improve the yield and tailor the molecular structure of the hydrocarbons it produces. Researcher John Dec said, ““The new fuels will have to work well with both existing engines and advanced engines, like HCCI or low-temperature diesel combustion. Only then will you be able to sell the fuel at the pump and get your new high-efficiency, low-emissions engine into the marketplace.”

Take a look at the Sandia National Laboratories work, and send me your comments. What do you think about these types of potential biofuels and their future in the marketplace?

Photoelectrochemical cells convert sunlight into electricity, but their light-absorbing dyes, called chromophores, eventually degrade because of sunlight exposure. For plant cells, the degradation of chromophores isn’t a big deal – they simply self-regenerate.

Now, Purdue researchers are in the early stages of creating a solar cell that self-repairs in a way that is similar to a plant’s natural photosynthetic systems. Single-wall carbon nanotubes, anchored to strands of DNA, act as the “molecular wires” in the light harvesting cells. The DNA is engineered to have specific nucleotides that recognize chromophores and attach to them. Photo-damaged chromophores then may be removed by using chemical processes or by adding new DNA strands with different nucleotide sequences.

The work looks very interesting and could ultimately lead to a photoelectrochemical cell that operates at full capacity indefinitely.

Sugar – to – Hydrogen Technology Could Lead to Fuel Independence

Researchers at Virginia Tech, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the University of Georgia have proposed using polysaccharides, or sugary carbohydrates, from biomass to directly produce low-cost hydrogen for the new hydrogen economy.

According to the DOE, advances are needed in four areas to make hydrogen fuel an economical reality for transportation: production, storage, distribution, and fuel cells. Most industrial hydrogen currently comes from natural gas, which has become expensive. Storing and moving the gas, whatever its source, is costly and cumbersome, and even dangerous. And there is little infrastructure for refueling a vehicle.

Using synthetic biology approaches, the researchers are using a combination of 13 enzymes never found together in nature to completely convert polysaccharides (C6H10O5) and water into hydrogen when and where that form of energy is needed. Polysaccharides are used by plants for energy storage and building blocks and are very stable until exposed to enzymes. Just add enzymes to a mixture of starch and water and “the enzymes use the energy in the starch to break up water into only carbon dioxide and hydrogen,” said Y.H. Percival Zhang, assistant professor of biological systems engineering at Virginia Tech.

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Led by the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University of Nottingham (U.K.), a research team is using thermoacoustic technology for the first time to convert biomass fuels into energy to power a combination stove, refrigerator, and generator. Part of the ~$4M SCORE (Stove for Cooking, Refrigeration, and Electricity) project, the research will address the energy needs of rural communities in Africa and Asia, where access to power is extremely limited.

The concept of the proposed device is based on proven thermoacoustic engines and refrigerators developed for applications such as combustion-fired natural gas liquefaction and radioisotope-fueled electric power generation. Thermoacoustics refers to the generation of sound waves through the non- uniform heating of gas. Using this technology is a more efficient way of using wood as a fuel than using an open fire to cook.

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Scientists at the University of New South Wales (UNSW, Sydney, Australia) developed a process to boost the efficiency of solar cell technology that also lowers the total cost. The UNSW researchers deposited a thin film of silver onto a solar cellÂ’s surface and then
heated it to 200 degrees Celsius. This broke the film into tiny “islands” of silver that boosted the cell’s light-trapping ability. The advance could see the price of an installed solar system for an average house fall from around $20,000 to $15,000 (Australian).

“Most thin-film solar cells are between eight and 10% efficient,” said Dr. Kylie Catchpole, a co-author of the study, “but the new technique could increase efficiency to between 13 and 15%.”

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