Science

Scientists Use Gut Bacteria to Turn Seaweed Into Biofuel

Researchers Create Fuel From Seaweed and Genetically Modified E.Coli

Look familiar? Kombu, which is in the kelp family, can be dried and used in things like sushi wraps.

Here are a few reasons, at least according to Scientific American, why seaweed could make the perfect biofuel: it doesn‘t need fertilizer or irrigation and it doesn’t have a component found in land plants that has proven difficult to deal with for biofuel engineers.

Recently, researchers at the Bio Architecture Lab, Inc., (BAL) and the University of Washington in Seattle have also found that an extremely common bacteria can be used to help exploit this plant’s properties to make fuel. Scientific American reports that the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has stated that the U.S. could get 1 percent of its fuel from a little less than 1 percent of seaweed harvested from the country’s coastal territories.

Researchers at BAL and the University of Washington made genetic modifications to E. Coli that allowed it to turn the sugars of the seaweed into fuel. Scientific American has more:

To get his E. coli to digest kombu [(a type of seaweed)], Yoshikuni turned to nature—specifically, he looked into the genetics of natural microbes that can break down alginate, the predominant sugar molecule in the brown seaweed. “The form of the sugar inside the seaweed is very exotic,” [co-founder of BAL Yasuo] Yoshikuni told Scientific American. “There is no industrial microbe to break down alginate and convert it into fuels and chemical compounds.”

Researchers Create Fuel From Seaweed and Genetically Modified E.Coli

(Image: BioArchitecture Lab)

In a test, the researchers mixed the kombu with water and the genetically altered E. Coli and found after two days the mixture was 5 percent ethanol. Scientific American reports Yoshikuni as saying that the E.Coli could potentially be modified to digest other plant sugars for making ethanol and other non-fuel materials.

[H/T Venture Beat]

Comments (14)

  • sacwoodpusher
    Posted on January 22, 2012 at 2:47pm

    What about all of the corn cobs going to waste. We need to figure out a way to make charcoal out of corn cobs, and then compress it into charcoal.

    There are so many opportunities for energy as the price of oil rises.

    Report Post »  
  • mdavid
    Posted on January 22, 2012 at 1:23pm

    Well if the scientists only need 1 percent of the known seaweed along US west coastal waters, then that’s not a large sacrifice, and further the seaweed will grow back quickly. Some species grow 3 feet per day! Fast as bamboo, if not faster.

    This could really work, as long as the e.coli is inexpensive to synthesize en masse.

    This might be a smart little enclave for ethanol offsetting. We REALLY need to get away from using corn; 40% country wide is being diluted into 10% of America’s gasoline mixture per year. That’s not just bad math, it’s bad trade-off, and bad economics. Yet for the seaweed ethanol gains, it’s a 1 to 1 ratio of trade-off, and the plant isn’t a worldwide food staple that can lead to civil wars, revolutions and general violence in the Middle East (hello Arab Spring).

    I say go for it. Fund it. Repeal all support for corn based ethanol in the process. This stuff sounds like it could fund itself in the free market.

    Report Post » mdavid  
  • TROONORTH
    Posted on January 22, 2012 at 12:28pm

    Ethanol from kelp?

    MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
    Can anyone say ‘Seaweed wine’? ( Insert sound of gagging here)

    Report Post » TROONORTH  
  • BobtheMoron
    Posted on January 22, 2012 at 9:22am

    Another dumbass idea. Drill for the friggin’ oil, you idiots.

    Report Post » BobtheMoron  
  • iStorm
    Posted on January 22, 2012 at 9:20am

    Anything but more regulations.

    Report Post » iStorm  
  • 80mesh
    Posted on January 22, 2012 at 9:14am

    having grow’d up near puget sound and later alaska we used the oceans bounty to better our lives, kelp mixed in with compost, a bucket of fish offal makes great fertilizer too.
    but bulb kelp bread and butter pickles are the best and if you try to cut down my bull kelp i wll chain my self to it …… ohoh that wont work …. so i will chain a treehugger to it and wait for the tide to rise. i maybe on to something here … ridding the planet of greenies.
    c’mon boys grab your chains and head down to mean low water, we’ll show those kelp rapers how serious we are …blub blub

    Report Post » 80mesh  
  • Pigpen
    Posted on January 21, 2012 at 5:42pm

    So why then don’t we use the regular e. coli (you know the prevalent version found everywhere including in YOUR colon) to produce the gas it makes naturally, you know, methane? If e. coli makes enough methane in you and the average cow‘s belly to threaten the friggin’ ozone layer, then why don’t we use non-genetically manipulated e. coli to make friggin methane and turn to a “methane economy”? Oh, THAT’S RIGHT! You can’t PATENT the regular e. coli, only the exotic, genetically modified, seaweed eating e. coli can legally be patented. PHEW, seaweed has saved the energy cartel’s monopoly!

    Report Post » Pigpen  
    • I Love Howie Carr
      Posted on January 21, 2012 at 10:57pm

      funny

      Report Post »  
    • Chuck Stein
      Posted on January 22, 2012 at 2:19am

      It is odd that ethanol is “the” fuel alcohol while methanol is so much easier to make. It can be made from natural gas, biogas, coal, biomass. It has only one half of the BTUs as diesel fuel, but it is always well under half of the price. Also, it’s exhaust is very low in volitile organic compounds (the stuff that makes smog).

      Report Post »  
  • Patriotic_Mercenary
    Posted on January 21, 2012 at 1:53pm

    And now I can see one of my favorite items going up in price…sushi. The Japanese use a lot of seaweed in their diet. Will this affect them as well? I, personally doubt this happening, but it’s fun to start getting riled up about it.

    I’m sure whomever started up this venture, they‘d set up seaweed farms if they don’t have them already. Just like they have clam, mussel and fish farms off of the coasts. And seaweed grows very quickly, especially in nutrient-rich areas. But now many hectares would be needed to make this a viable enterprise? Which areas are really prime to grow seaweed? Would this affect shipping lanes, tourism or other ventures?

    While this is a good alternative, there are a few issues I have with ethanol in and of itself. The fact that it is not as efficient as petrol, for one. The “burning our food” problem we’re having with corn and whatnot.

    Report Post » Patriotic_Mercenary  
    • DisillusionedDaily
      Posted on January 21, 2012 at 7:58pm

      While I am not an enviromentalist, I would like to be the first to lodge a protest about the senseless waste of a precious oceanic breeding habitat for countless marine species. The next thing they will try is a pipeline to carry this ill-gotten fuel through sensitive ecological habitats where it will threaten the very existance of Kermit the Frog and his offspring!

      Report Post » DisillusionedDaily  
  • Suchiazski
    Posted on January 21, 2012 at 9:09am

    This is cool and actually sounds promising. But how much would this cost if this became mainstream in a decade or so? And please don’t send this article to the Obama Administration, lest they cut a multi-billion dollar check and throw it at the University of Washington and BAL.

    Report Post » Suchiazski  
  • A Conservatarian
    Posted on January 21, 2012 at 3:24am

    Liz, yet another cool article :)

    Report Post » A Conservatarian  

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