For most people, the term "Escherichia coli" is synonymous with food poisoning and returning spoiled products to the store; There are those who believe that hydrogen can be extracted from it to produce energy
Through genetic modification of the bacterium, Thomas Wood, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, forced a particular strain of the bacterium Escherichia coli to produce a significant amount of hydrogen. In fact, Professor Wood's strain produces hydrogen in an amount that is 140 times greater than the bacterium's original amount, according to an article describing his findings published in the journal Microbial Biotechnology.
Although the researcher is aware of the fact that there is still much work to be done before his research can be translated into commercial applications, his initial success could be a serious stepping stone on the path to a hydrogen-based economy, an area that many believe is the future hope of humanity. A renewable, clean and efficient supply of hydrogen is a key component in fuel cell technology, which has the future ability to provide energy for many diverse products ranging from portable electronics and cars to power plants. Today, most of the hydrogen produced for global use is obtained by the process of breaking down water into its components - hydrogen and oxygen. However, this process is expensive and requires a large amount of energy, which is one of the main reasons for the fact that this technology is not very tempting to use. Professor Wood's research with Escherichia coli could change that.
Although the public is used to hearing about the particular strain of bacteria that causes food poisoning in humans, most strains are common and harmless and some of them even help their hosts by preventing the penetration of other harmful bacteria into the human digestive tract. In fact, the use of this bacterium in science is not new at all and it enables the production of human insulin and the development of various vaccines. But as a possible energy source? This is a new field and it was broken by Professor Wood and his research colleagues. By selectively removing six certain genes in the DNA of Escherichia coli, Wood was able to turn the bacterium into a mini-factory for the production of hydrogen "fueled" by sugar. Scientifically, Wood was able to significantly increase the bacterium's natural process of converting glucose into energy and releasing hydrogen in the process. These bacteria have 5000 genes that allow them to survive despite all the environmental changes," explains Wood.
"When we remove part of the DNA the bacteria become less competitive. We didn't add a capability to them that they didn't have. They did not gain anything - they actually lost. The bacteria we created are less competitive and less harmful due to the part removed from them." When sugar is its main food, this strain of bacteria can take advantage of the existing and efficient natural process for producing sugar from various crops such as grains, says Wood. "Many of the researchers are trying to turn different crops into some kind of sugar," explains Wood. "We are interested in using this sugar and turning it into hydrogen. We intend to take sugar from various crops and synthetic sugar-like compounds and use a bacterium to turn them into hydrogen."
It is likely that biological methods such as this (production of hydrogen by Escherichia coli through a fermentation process) will lead to economic savings in energy production because they do not require multiple electricity or heating," says Wood. "One of the most complicated elements in chemical engineering is how your product is obtained," explains the researcher. "In this case, the process is extremely simple due to the fact that hydrogen is a gas that simply bubbles out of the solution. You just have to collect the gas coming out of the test tube and that's it - you have clean hydrogen ready for use." Of course, the process has other advantages. As expected, the price for building a completely new pipeline to transfer the hydrogen is a deterrent to the use of fuel cell technologies based on hydrogen. In addition, there is the increased safety risk in transferring hydrogen, which is a flammable gas. The solution, Wood explains, produces hydrogen in place. "Sugar can be transferred and if it spills, no disaster happens," explains the researcher.
"Our idea is that you can get hydrogen exactly where you need it." Of course, all these details are for the rest of the way. At the moment Wood is still busy in the lab itself to upgrade the process which is very capable. The goal, he says, is to get as much as possible out of as little as possible. "Take your house, for example," says Wood. "The size of the reactor that we will need to implement the above technology will be smaller than the size of a 1000 liter fuel tank, found in a typical house on the east coast of the USA. This is not the end of the story, but if we apply this technology today, we will be able to convert an amount of about 80 kg of sugar per day to produce an amount of hydrogen that will be sufficient for the energy needs of a typical American residence for an entire day. "We are trying to produce a bacterium that will not need 80 kg of sugar - but closer to 8 kg."
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Factual reminder:
Our human world is quite small compared to the enormous amount of biological life (bacteria, viruses, mutations of all kinds, and more); So there is a very reasonable chance that salvation will come from the germ.
hello baba,
This is indeed an excellent idea. Research on the subject is currently underway in the biology laboratories at the Technion, where the researchers are testing the possibility of producing a stream of electrons from the photosynthesis process that occurs in certain bacteria. Among other things, the research incorporates genetic engineering in those bacteria, in order to change the path of electron flow in the photosynthesis process and tilt it in the desired direction.
I would love to hear your ideas too.
Good Day,
Roy.
I have an idea that has been developing for years (since finishing my degree in biology) for "green energy" (literally) and clean. During my studies, I came across a subject called bioenergetics - energy production from biological sources. The book that dealt with the subject focused on the process of photosynthesis, a process in which energy is produced with a utilization of 70%, which has no equivalent in man-made energy technologies (the efficiency of solar panels is much lower). My idea was to use photosynthetic bacteria that would produce excess energy that would be usable. This article gave me ideas on how to possibly accomplish this. I would love to receive comments on my ideas.
By the way Matan, if you are still thinking about the field of biology this could be an interesting topic for you.
giving:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bio-informatics
Thank you Michael and Ziv
Michael if you could refer to the site or talk to me on my email details
matanf7@gmail.com
Ziv, thanks, that's about what I thought about the subject
giving,
As a programmer I tell you that if you look at financial income only (not within this is my recommendation... choose a profession that you love and love to engage in), as a programmer you will be able to generate high income in a relatively short time, and you can also receive income in a more flexible way without the need for special equipment...
Successfully
giving:
If you want, you can combine biology and computer science in the path of bioinformatics so that if you really improve your matriculation it might combine everything you like, but this is a difficult study because computer science is much more than programming. The question is of course not only about grades but about ability and you have to think with yourself if the grades require improvement because you didn't try or because it's hard for you to absorb the material. Only if you come to the conclusion that the reason is that you didn't try should you go study bioinformatics because these are studies that require both investment and talent.
I studied electricity and programming and I really wanted something in biology, but let's say that I have something to improve in matriculation
And programming is something I like from school and I'm willing to invest time and improve grades and machines I'm learning my own and it sounds like a not bad profession
giving:
Software engineering and mechanical engineering are completely different professions.
What subjects did you like at school?
Now that I think about it I think it doesn't bring the sugar as we know it but as some kind of solution in which the bacteria has mixed the sugar beforehand into a form that resembles a liquid petri dish or something like that
post Scriptum
I am before studies and tend to study the field of software engineering or mechanical engineering
If anyone has an idea about professions similar to one of these, please write them down, thanks
The thing is, that unlike technologies
Others, after all, through breaking down sugars
It is possible to get rid of a little bit of organic garbage;
This way you can earn twice.
Those interested in cheap production of hydrogen will also be interested in this article:
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/20134/?nlid=845
For Baaz and everyone else, maybe in the place of sugar, you can just use organic garbage because (correct me if I'm wrong) everything has a certain amount of some type of sugar
And what will the bacteria eat?
If we repeat the same mistake of ethanol fuel again that the farmers started growing fuel for cars instead of food for people then nothing useful will come out of this thing.
If these bacteria grow on sugar that is produced from crops that are grown instead of wheat then food prices will rise again and everything will be at the expense of the poor.
Remember the scene from Back to the Future when the Doctor drives the time machine with a pile of trash?
Upgraded bacteria, hydrogen propulsion and here is another vision becoming a reality 🙂