When life gives you lemons, make lemonade jet fuel
An Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology researcher hopes to use a chemical found in lemons and other citrus fruits to make clean, renewable jet fuel. Dr Claudia Vickers is modifying baker’s yeast to produce a synthetic form of the natural chemical limonene at AIBN, based at The University of Queensland. “Limonene is a volatile chemical that is best known for contributing to the smell of citrus fruits,” Vickers said. “It was first identified in turpentine oil in the late 1800s and is now used as a flavour and fragrance in foods, household cleaning products, and perfumes. It also holds promise as an anti-cancer agent.”
Vickers said the environmental benefits of using limonene as a fuel were particularly exciting. “It might sound unlikely, but limonene one day could be a renewable, clean source of aviation fuel,” she said. “Fifty per cent of a 747’s weight on take-off is its fuel.
Limonene extracted from citrus peel had been used successfully as a jet fuel component in demonstration flights in the past. “However, large-scale limonene production from citrus peel is impractical,” Vickers said. “Producing it in yeast should provide a route to much greater yields of limonene which are easier to extract.”
Limonene yields from the modified yeast are not yet high enough to be commercially viable, but Dr Vickers has plans to further modify the yeast for improved yields. The same technology could be used to make a variety of other sustainable products from limonene, including rubbers, plastics, and paints.
The feasibility research had the backing of industry partners including Boeing , Virgin Australia , Mackay Sugar , IOR Energy and US biotech company Amyris.
A United States Department of Agriculture report predicts “green chemicals” produced using biomass will represent 22 per cent of the chemical market by 2025. A short video on Dr Vickers and her limonene research can be seen here
Article sourced from Friday Offcuts
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Dale, now your talking! Nice, beautiful smelling limonene grown in yeast sure wins me over, versus p**p - fed algae! (No offence, John CF :-)
ReplyDeleteCheers bro' al
Would fuel made from algae even have a noticeable smell? I know Bro Al's comment above was very much tongue in cheek but it does raise a question. It couldn't be worst than unleaded petrol.
ReplyDeleteFrom the UK is this article courtesy of John C, Researchers receive £700,000 to examine using algae as fuel
"Westcountry scientists have been awarded £700,000 to investigate the potential for using tiny algae grown on waste water as a source of biofuel.
Sir Mark Walport, the Government's chief scientific adviser, this week announced £4 million of UK funding for sustainable fuel development during a visit to India.
The funding, with matched resources from India, has been awarded to four research projects that bring together expertise in sustainable energy from both countries.
Among the recipients is Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) which is to study the potential of producing biofuel from microalgae – a process that is not currently commercially viable.
PML's Dr Carole Llewellyn, and her research team, are to collaborate with colleagues from Bharathidasan University and the Institute of Algal Technology, in Chennai, on the project.
Dr Llewellyn explains: "We want to understand the complex and dynamic systems and interactions in waste water communities.
"This funding will help us find out what microalgae and bacteria are present in the waste water, how they compare and what they are doing.
"Ultimately the research will contribute to solving the problem of producing biofuel from microalgae grown on waste water with consideration to both the environment and the economy."
Such biofuels have massive commercial potential although are only currently being produced in laboratory conditions.
On a bigger scale, the nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients required to maintain growth come at a high cost but can be abundant in waste water, mainly from industry.
One added bonus of exploiting waste water for biofuels is that it is "cleaned up" in the process, making it more environmentally acceptable.
The research will include assessing algae at both a "community" level and at a molecular level, through isolating them and then bringing them back together in various combinations.
Earlier this year, it emerged that scientists at the University of Exeter had developed techniques to make bacteria produce diesel on demand.
The diesel is produced by special strains of E. coli bacteria, which naturally turn sugar into fat to build their cell membranes, and is almost identical to conventional fuel.
Unlike biodiesels derived from plant oils, it does not need to be blended with petroleum products before use, meaning engines, pipelines and tankers do not need to be modified.
The work at the university has been supported by a grant from Shell Research Ltd and a grant from the Biological Sciences Research Council."
This bit from the article forwarded by JohnCF says it all: "Ultimately the research will contribute to solving the problem of producing biofuel from microalgae grown on waste water with consideration to both the environment and the economy."
ReplyDeleteSuch biofuels have massive commercial potential although are only currently being produced in laboratory conditions.
On a bigger scale, the nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients required to maintain growth come at a high cost but can be abundant in waste water, mainly from industry.
One added bonus of exploiting waste water for biofuels is that it is "cleaned up" in the process, making it more environmentally acceptable."
There is a lot more industrial waste than lemon juice (or peels) so it's pretty obvious which would be most viable if funding was provided to exploit it.
Yes indeed John and John CF, But whether from poo farms (apologies everyone ;-) or industrial waste streams, Blind Freddy can see that we are talking huge ponds for any commercial scale algae - to - fuel ventures, Growing, harvesting, processing (even though potentially simple - or relatively so - for 'biodiesel), transporting etc. will be enormous logistic issues.
DeleteAustralians are notoriously 'risk averse' when it comes to providing venture capital. Meanwhile, 'conventional' NG, 'unconventional' NG (as CSG and shale gas have been ridiculously labelled, probably by someone in the media),, and potentially vast quantities of gas and liquid fuels via gasification of coal, are abundantly available to us. Not to mention nuclear power of course. ,
Cleaning up sewerage streams after primary processing already in place, to potable water standards, is already commercially viable via reverse osmosis molecular filtration. Millions of Singaporeans would die without it, so I think the economics of fuel production from algae will have to stand on its own feet from the point of view of commercial viability.
Cheers bro' al