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If their approach can modify industrial yeast, it would drive down the cost of ethanol, Ladisch says. And eventually this research could have a wider impact, he says, because the mechanism that the researchers used to make the ethanol-tolerant yeast could be used as a blueprint to develop other wanted traits in microbes. "They now have a handle into fundamental metabolic pathways in how the yeast might be modified," he says.
Stephanopoulos believes that cellulosic-ethanol yields could be improved by tailoring certain traits in microbes using his technique. It might be possible to make microbes that are tolerant of compounds other than ethanol that are created in the fermentation process and toxic to the microbes. He also hopes to produce strains that eat sugars with five carbon atoms, such as xylose, that are produced when cellulose is broken down. The microbes used in today's processes only ferment sugars like glucose that have six carbon atoms.
Much work remains to be done to develop a single organism that can first break down cellulose into sugars before fermenting these sugars. Breaking down cellulose is a key constraint to the viability of making ethanol from biomass, says Lee Lynd, professor of engineering at Dartmouth College. "The research and development-driven advances with the greatest impact on producing cellulosic ethanol at low cost and high efficiency have to do with converting biomass into sugars," he says.
Modified yeast could help make ethanol from hard-to-digest materials.
A new type of genetic switch gives bioengineers better control over microbes.
Brazilian researchers report that exposure to magnetic fields increased ethanol yields by as much as 17 percent.
I can see this technology being a vital part of one of the several possible manufacturing methods for producing ethanol. The commercial possibilities of having tailored microbes reduce the cost associated with methanol and ethanol is linking to the output of the produced being manufactured. So imagine, if even 20% of the predict 5 billion gallons of ethanol which will be consumed by the US in 2008 is made with these microbes. The revenue potential for this technology is then based on the price of ethanol and the licensing rate for the technology. To illustrate say ethanol is selling for $2 a gallon and at a licensing rate is 0.5%, then the possible revenues from this technology can be calculated to be $10 million a year just in the US.
Furthermore, the cost associated with manufacturing is one of the major stepping stones to overcome prior to really having a significant adoption of an ethanol as a fuel source.
Brian Glassman
A Ph.D. Student in Commercialization of Technologies
At Purdue University
www.TechRd.com
Innovation Management
Commercialization of technology
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mcclune
5 Comments
Bio-Liquids Research
I have developed a totally new industry utilizing
a new Crop/Process with the bio-liquids derived by extracted sugared juices, which produces bio-fuels or bio-chemicals, simply and at a very low cost, it also produces at over two times the yield as corn, and at Zero Fossil Fuel Inputs,,
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mkogrady
425 Comments
Re: Bio-Liquids Research
Can you engineer a Bio-Liquid product capable of consuming vast quanitities of Co2? The plans to sequester the tons of gas generated by industry in undersea caves and vaults might benefit from such a product - basically an organic cave scrubber.
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Brian H
60 Comments
Re: Bio-Liquids Research
Consuming CO2? Whatever for? It's the #1 most important atmospheric resource for life. The current geological era is in a CO2 famine, which should be reversed as speedily as possible. I recommend about 2,000ppm as a target level.
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