Energy from bacteria…is this possible? Well, this is possible according to Thomas Wood, a professor of chemical engineering in Texas A&M University with his novel technique of converting E-Coli bacteria in to energy factories which produce hydrogen as energy.
Prof. Wood, a researcher at Texas A&M University has devised a new biotechnological technique to increase the production of hydrogen by E-Coli bacteria by altering its natural hydrogen producing process. This alternation is primarily done by selectively deleting six specific genes in E-Coli’s DNA which in turn, as a result, produces 140 times more hydrogen than is created via the natural process, along with a supply of sugar to utilize.
Hydrogen is considered as a valuable component in fuel-cell technology. Therefore massive scale production of hydrogen is extremely important. Currently a process termed as “cracking water” does this task. But the current method has major drawbacks such as high cost of money and high cost of energy. Here the Wood’s technique provides an efficient solution for the above drawbacks as it does not require extensive heating or electricity.
“The size of the reactor that we'd need today if we implemented this technology would be less than the size of a 250-gallon fuel tank found in the typical east-coast home. If we implemented the technology right now, you or a machine would have to shovel in about the weight of a man every day so that the reactor could provide enough hydrogen to take care of the average American home for a 24-hour period” Wood explains.
Read the original article ; category : Microbiology, Engineering
Prof. Wood, a researcher at Texas A&M University has devised a new biotechnological technique to increase the production of hydrogen by E-Coli bacteria by altering its natural hydrogen producing process. This alternation is primarily done by selectively deleting six specific genes in E-Coli’s DNA which in turn, as a result, produces 140 times more hydrogen than is created via the natural process, along with a supply of sugar to utilize.
Hydrogen is considered as a valuable component in fuel-cell technology. Therefore massive scale production of hydrogen is extremely important. Currently a process termed as “cracking water” does this task. But the current method has major drawbacks such as high cost of money and high cost of energy. Here the Wood’s technique provides an efficient solution for the above drawbacks as it does not require extensive heating or electricity.
“The size of the reactor that we'd need today if we implemented this technology would be less than the size of a 250-gallon fuel tank found in the typical east-coast home. If we implemented the technology right now, you or a machine would have to shovel in about the weight of a man every day so that the reactor could provide enough hydrogen to take care of the average American home for a 24-hour period” Wood explains.
Read the original article ; category : Microbiology, Engineering
