14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy think they found the key to success in revolutionizing the biofuel industry. They rely on the contribution of one of the most important threats to human health: E.coli bacteria.
Experts say it represents a source with a lot of potential, since it can change the properties of tough switchgrass used as feedstock, in order to provide three essential products: alternative gasoline, diesel and jet fuel at a very attractive price, reports Clean Technica.
All that E.coli bacteria will attack from now on are the prices of biofuel that currently represent the main reason why these products aren't used on a large commercial scale. Using this bacteria in their labs, experts will be able to avoid a few cost-inefficient phases in the biofuel manufacturing processes.
At a certain point in time, this industry of eco-friendly fuel threatened food security in America, by diverting too much corn to refineries.
As a result, Obama administration has decided that experts should focus on exploiting the benefits offered by non-food biomass, like switchgrass. Even if they count as an unlimited source for biofuel, they still have a disadvantage.
Their extra toughness made scientists experience a hard time decomposing them. This is where E.coli proves its utility.
Normally, strains of E.coli cannot grow on this feedstock, but scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory think they have everything covered. They are successfully modifying the bacteria’s metabolic characteristics, in order to come up with those three kinds of biofuel.
Apparently, this method involves another trick: the switchgrass used as feedstock has been previously treated in a bath of molten salt to make it softer and easier to work with.
It appears to be too soon to tell whether this method is really efficient or not. Scientists will have to demonstrate that this path, once adopted by the entire green fuel industry, could guarantee decreased costs for biofuels. Nowadays, such eco-friendly alternatives are scientists' favorite tools in fighting America's growing oil addiction.