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Bugs produce diesel on demand

exeter.ac.uk

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Re: Bugs produce diesel on demand

#3

Post by ChuckMcM »

jcr wrote: post #2

Original Press Source http://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/research/title_281715_en.html Actual Paper http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/04/17/1215966110.full...

I thought I had seen it before. It saves the post processing step that the NASA algae experiment had. Still it's an interesting result.

Re: Bugs produce diesel on demand

#6

Post by swombat »

artichokeheart wrote: post #5

Did anyone else looking at the front page of HN jump to the conclusion that if this strain or similar of E. coli could be developed to live of human faeces India could become a future bio-fuel giant

Yep, I came to post this. But you beat me to it!

India, meet your saviour. Soon, the water tables of India will be awash with... er... Diesel?

Hmm, not sure if that's that good a solution?...

Re: Bugs produce diesel on demand

#7

Post by regularfry »

I am not a biochemist. Is this doing an end-run around the energy density problem by converting useless hydrocarbons (which already have a lot of energy stored, but not in a usable form), or does this still need an energy source - be that solar, heat, whatever - to provide the energy to be stored in the biodiesel?

Re: Bugs produce diesel on demand

#8

Post by D9u »

swombat wrote: post #6
artichokeheart wrote: post #5

Did anyone else looking at the front page of HN jump to the conclusion that if this strain or similar of E. coli could be developed to live of human faeces India could become a future bio-fuel giant

Yep, I came to post this. But you beat me to it! India, meet your saviour. Soon, the water tables of India will be awash with... er... Diesel? Hmm, not sure if that's that good a solution?...

Regarding India's sewage issue, I wondered why feces isn't used in a methane digestor, or as fertilizer?

Re: Bugs produce diesel on demand

#9

Post by mikhailfranco »

If these processes ever go into production and create cheap fuel, the world will really change. Presumably it will stop oil extraction industries from the top down, i.e. high cost producers first. So tar sands, shale oil and deep water sub-salt are the first to go (Canada, offshore Brazil, ...).

Even though Saudi Arabia is the lowest cost producer, it gives a lot of the profits away to the people, in free health services, education, housing, low cost fuel, and, increasingly, in bundles of cash, to reduce dissent. Of course, the extended royal family takes a huge piece of the pie too. The break-even cost of oil to balance current budgets in the GCC states is in the range $80-130, with exception of Kuwait at $55:

http://www.businessinsider.com/breakeven-oil-prices-2012-6

The current price is around $100 for Brent, so it would only take a 25% price fall to put the whole region in recession and turmoil (note Bahrain is under water at the current price). The 'curse of oil' often means there is not much other industry to take up the slack in these economies, although the UAE has done a much better job than Saudi Arabia on that score. If you add recent news stories about deep sea methane hydrate extraction, and fusion research at Lockheed Martin SkunkWorks, the leaders of the world's oil producing nations must be getting just a little bit apprehensive.

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