Fuel's gold: Termites point way to new dawn of bio-energy

[fourtheboys96]

isa sa mga problema ng biofuel especially ethanol ay yung kumpetensiya with food sources. like in the US, corn ang gamit to produce ethanol. in the Philippines wala masyado kumpetensiy dahil sa molasses ata galing ang ethanol natin (for maunfacture of liquor ito).

isa sa options ay gumamit ng non-food feedstock for ethanol production gaya ng sugarcane bagasse, dayami, etc. kaso ang problema mahirap idecompose yung lignin sa cell wall ng plants (tama ba) kaya inefficient yung process sa pagkuha ng starch from these types of feedtsocks.

with this discovery, baka maging katotohanan na yung paggamit ng farm waste or by-products para sa paggawa ng ethanol.

sana lang eh affordable yung enzymes dahil kung mahal, baka ndi din tayo makinabang

From Inquirer:

Fuel's gold: Termites point way to new dawn of bio-energy

Agence France-Presse
Last updated 07:52am (Mla time) 11/22/2007

PARIS -- A team of US scientists poring over the intestines of a tropical termite have a gut feeling that a breakthrough in the quest for cleaner, renewable petrol is in store.

Tucked in the termite's nether regions, they say, is a treasure trove of enzymes that could make next-generation biofuels, replacing fossil fuels that are dirty, pricey or laden with geopolitical risk.

Termites are typically a curse, inflicting billions of dollars in damage each year by munching through household timber with silent, relentless ease.

But gene researchers say the hind gut of a species of Central American termite "harbor a potential gold mine" of microbes which exude enzymes to smoothly break down woody fibers and provide the insect with its nutrition.

Present-generation biofuels are derived from corn, sugar and other crops, whose starch is converted into ethanol by enzymes, fermentation and distillation.

One of the problems, though, is that this product entails converting food into fuel. Hefty US subsidies to promote bio-ethanol is having price repercussions across swathes of the global food market.

Next-generation biofuels, though, would use non-food cellulose materials, such as wood chips and straw. But these novel processes, hampered by costs and complications, are struggling to reach a commercial scale.

The termite's tummy, though, could make all the difference.

Like cows, termites have a series of intestinal compartments that each nurture a distinct community of microbes.

Each compartment does a different job in the process to convert woody polymers into the kind of sugars that can then be fermented into biofuel.

The US team has now sequenced and analyzed the genetic code of some of these microbes in a key step towards -- hopefully -- reproducing the termite's miniature bioreactor on an industrial scale.

Their work, published on Wednesday in Nature, required scientists to venture into the rainforests of Costa Rica, where they plucked bulbous-headed worker termites from a large nest at the foot of a tree.

Using fine forceps and needles, they extracted the contents of the third paunch, or hind gut, from 165 termites, and sent this to a lab in California for sequencing.

From this, some 71 million "letters" of genetic code emerged, pointing to two major bacterial lineages called fibrobacters, which degrade cellulose, and treponemes, which convert the result to fermentable sugars.

Termite guts are incredibly efficient, said Andreas Brune of the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg, Germany.

"In theory, they could transform an A4-sized sheet of paper into two liters (1.8 pints) of hydrogen," he said.

Eddy Rubin, director of the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), an organization that comes under the aegis of the US Department of Energy, said an important fundamental step had been made, even if a long road still lay ahead.

"Scaling up this process so that biomass factories can produce biofuels more efficiently and economically is another story," said Rubin.

"To get there, we must define the set of genes with key functional attributes for the breakdown of cellulose and this study represents an essential step along that path."

Other scientists taking part in the project were from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), biofuels company Verenium Corp., the National Biodiversity Institute (INBio) of Costa Rica and the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center.

[badkuk]

i think there's some work being done on cellulosic ethanol...not sure what the exact process is, but it uses plant matter(not necessarily the part used for food) as the raw material

[mbeige]

Interesting, this might be in our class next week when Thanksgiving break is over.

If this is truly the next generation of biofuels, then I wonder - do current vehicles have to be converted? Or can they still run on these fuels as an alternative? It'd be good if vehicles need to be converted, but much better if not. I guess I'll keep my eyes peeled for this one

[ghosthunter]

Interesting, this might be in our class next week when Thanksgiving break is over.

If this is truly the next generation of biofuels, then I wonder - do current vehicles have to be converted? Or can they still run on these fuels as an alternative? It'd be good if vehicles need to be converted, but much better if not. I guess I'll keep my eyes peeled for this one

Depends on what kind of "alternative" fuel you will use on your engine. Some engines will run on an alternative type of fuel with no problems like bio-diesel fuel on a diesel fuel.

But other engines would require some modification like using bio-ethanol based fuels would require certain parts to be upgraded because bio-ethanol will react with certain rubber & plastic parts and tends to remove or thin down the protective layer of oil on metal parts. Using hydrogen in a gasoline engine would be fine, except for a minor adjustment in ignition timing.

[mbeige]

Right, the use of Viton hoses, for example, is a good measure to prevent degradation of the fuel hoses that use biodiesel.

I mean, it would be impractical if people had to buy a wholly new car that is specially designed to run on these fibrous-based material.

This discovery brings a whole new light on organisms that convert certain organic compounds into nutrition they can use such as fungi. Fungi are decomposers that convert dead organic material into something they can convert to energy. The possibilities may have already broadened.

[Memphis Raines]

Truly wonderful insight! I never thought that termites can help save the environment.

I swear, I shall never kill another termite in my home again :clap1:

[fleas2016]

In theory, they could transform an A4-sized sheet of paper into two liters (1.8 pints) of hydrogen," he said.

wow! that's only from an A4-sized sheet of paper. imagine what one issue of dated Inquirer newspaper can produce

[chuaed]

speaking of bio-energy(biofuel)... here's one which we can use on our everyday car...
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZX2BRdXkzA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZX2BRdXkzA[/ame]

""eventhough i'm recycling the product that would otherwise shot out the drain and burning far greener then the conventional diesel why the government just aren't encouraging the use of CHIPFAT in cars? they just to damn greedy..." - Johnny Smith of fifthgear

[ghosthunter]

speaking of bio-energy(biofuel)... here's one which we can use on our everyday car...

""eventhough i'm recycling the product that would otherwise shot out the drain and burning far greener then the conventional diesel why the government just aren't encouraging the use of CHIPFAT in cars? they just to damn greedy..." - Johnny Smith of fifthgear

Actually even Johnny Smith of Fifth Gear drove his diesel M-Benz across the UK just fueled by used cooking oil poured into his fuel tank (after filtering it clean of nasty bits).

I am not sure but it is possible the local fastfood chains do recycle their used cooking oil into something. I am just not sure what.

[boybi]

Naalala ko tuloy yung DeLorean (tama ba spelling?) time machine car sa Back to the Future, which uses organic food wastes as fuel. Sa discovery na ito, magpasok lang tayo ng papers sa engine, pwede na!