With the situation in Libya causing a spike in fuel prices worldwide there’s some good biofuel-related news out of the U.S. Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) that could help to reduce many countries’ dependence on oil imports. For the first time, BESC researchers have succeeded in producing isobutanol directly from cellulosic plant matter using bacteria. Being a higher grade of alcohol than ethanol, isobutanol holds particular promise as a gasoline replacement as it can be burned in regular car engines with a heat value similar to gasoline.
Due in large part to its natural defenses to being chemically dismantled, cellulosic biomass like corn stover and switchgrass, which is abundant and cheap, has been much more difficult to utilize than corn or sugar cane. This means that producing biofuel from such biomass involves several steps, which is more costly than a process that combines biomass utilization and the fermentation of sugars to biofuel into a single process.
Building on earlier work at UCLA in creating a synthetic pathway for isobutanol production, the BESC researchers managed to achieve such a single-step process by developing a strain of Clostridium cellulolyticum, a native cellulose-degrading microbe that could synthesize isobutanol directly from cellulose.
This sounds good.
Another waste-of-time looking-for-the-government-handout.
Just like ethanol, it will be impossible to produce enough of it to make a dent in US oil consumption.
Until the environmental sheeple wake up and embrace electric cars and nuclear power, we will always be dependent on foreign oil.
Green energy investments yielding results! America must ween itself from the Saudi-Bush oil cartel.
To accelerate this, the cost of protecting the massive oil tit in the middle east with our military needs to be applied to a barrel of oil.
Another Duke Nukem forever project.
Electric cars suck Period.
GO Nuclear Power the US should never have a Power shortage.
Too good.
If it works well, no doubt Congress will create a law, outlawing this technology and the President will instantly sign the bill, if they don’t just “disappear” the technology, as usual.
More expensive oil somehow magically leads to bigger and bigger profits for Big Oil. You’d expect it to work the other way round but it never does work the other way round, does it?
Get used to it.
The more expensive gasoline gets for the consumer, the longer gasoline will be the primary fuel for the majority of vehicles in the United States.
Why do I find a vast majority of the documentation for this process only on “green” or “hobby” web sites and not published after peer review in recognized/established scientific journals?
The environuts will be out soon, claiming the carbon foot print is too high for this product.
@Forces of Repression –
True right upto the point where Monsanto owns more senators than oil.
More states produce corn than produce oil, and N and S Dakota can outvote Texas
Sigh, we have seen stories like this how many times? Bad news guys it never pans out.
Then again, who knows maybe this time will be different, but I will wait for proof until I get my hopes up.
There’s not enough arable soil and fertilizer to support pipe dreams like this.
Oh great! Hope that little bugger doesn’t escape into the wild and start converting cellulose to alcohol. What a great “law of unintended consequences” movie…Day 1: Energy Crisis Solved! Day 2: All vegetation converted to alcohol. Day 3: Cockroaches celebrate species ascendancy with millennium long bender.
Reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut’s “Ice 9”. I miss him!!
#7 Nobody
Big Oil seems to be more entrenched in Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court, so far.
Also:
Texas Population in 2010: 25,145,561
Rank: 2
N. Dakota Pop. in 2010: 672,591
Rank: 48
S. Dakota Pop. in 2010: 814,180
Rank: 46
Green is now a religion too, waiting for a savior.
This issue is where to grow enough volume to supply even a small percentage of needed gasoline. Brazil has cane fuel made from sugar cane which most say is much better then from corn. But of course here in the US we don’t want to upset farmers. This is the problem we cannot see the forest for the tree’s. Their are solutions but unless they are politically correct. We don’t even consider them. If the Government would quit paying people to make non competitive fuels and let them stand on their own. We would find out which one’s actually have promise.
The problems with most new fuels is the engineering. It is easy to grow algae biofuel. Right now though, it costs about $5.00 + a gallon to do so. Further refinement and techniques will lower the cost. Until then though, it just remains a good idea.
The problem is that environmentalism is a religion dedicated to enforcing a simpler lifestyle. Any alternative fuel that is cheap will not be approved.
These reports never include the downside/alternatives. The downside for corn ethanol is food prices go up and the process from start to finish uses almost as much energy/oil as it produces. Conc: its a corp/farm welfare program showing the idea had merit when approved, but can’t be stopped once it is proved to be idiotic. Thats government–it doesn’t have the control mechanism of the free market.
Now we have waste cellulose/switchgrass as the fuel source. What is done with this material now? I assume tilled under or burned and tilled under–returning the nutrients to the soil. What happens when these nutrients are removed from the cycle?
ALL energy sources need to be developed according to their utility. Several complexes providing energy from waste from this process seems worthy. Nuke for submarines seems worthy. Nuke to replace coal fired plants is worthy once the radioactive waste problem is solved.
The future is so bright, I gotta wear shades, but some worthless PUKE stole my glasses.
From the web: “In recent years an additional gigantic farm subsidy has been introduced, the corn-based ethanol fuel program. This subsidizes an especially inefficient method of fuel production, which offers no net benefit in terms of carbon emissions – it is a pure handout to the farm lobby, strengthened by the political salience of the Iowa presidential caucuses. Today much of US agriculture is dependent on crony-capitalism controls and subsidies, at enormous cost to the food consumer and the world economy.”
#7 Nobody
Did you you N Dakota has a very vibrant oil industry? It ranks #9 by total volume and #3 per capita.
http://statemaster.com/graph/ene_pet_pro_percap-energy-oil-production-per-capita
I think nuclear power is the only real way to go for the best energy density, if we want to keep all these planes, trains, automobiles and furnaces etc. running. Hopefully we can figure it out without blowing ourselves to kingdom come in the process.
#11 – I didn’t think you had one person one vote, doesn’t each state get a certain number of electoral colleges or senators or something. I seem to remember they are all called chad and they decide who won without having to count votes – I must admit I rather lost interest at one point but I seem to remember that they let somebodies kid do the job until they could figure it out
#2 Sure thing. You can feed biomass directly to bacteria or live stock. This is cutting food production to make fuel for cars.
If you have to subsidize it you have just proven that it isn’t economically viable in an open market.
We get most of our imported oil from Canada. The oil teat is partly important to use because if the people selling oil to the rest of the world all seriously dislike us the chances are good they can kill us. The other item is the other buyers might start outbidding us for Canadian oil.
Biofuel from corn has a 90+ year payback for the carbon debt created by the agricultural and manufacturing carbon costs. Sugar cane around 20. Of course, the corn belt is not suitable for sugar cane growth. So what’s the payback time for this stuff?
I’ve said it here before: Call me when this stuff hits the market.
#22 Most likely never if it has to pay its own way but most of the green projects only exist as long as some group of idiot law makers are willing to bleep over their constituents.
They genetically modified bacteria to eat industrial waste and to directly produce a gasoline alternative, with no chemical processing, little or no input of energy, no toxic waste, no dependance on middle eastern crude oil. This has to stop!
# 24 sargasso_c said, ‘They genetically modified bacteria to eat industrial waste and to directly produce a gasoline alternative,’
And it STILL costs more than the current HIGH price of imported oil. Go figure.
I agree with Ah_Yea, this is just another scheme to keep the pumped fuels industry alive and profitable. Investment speculation will keep its cost high. And a lack of regulation of the industry, that will own and control its use, will not prevent it from being as costly as gasoline. Or more costly.
But it will get government paid (taxpayer) funding to develop it. And possible subsidize it for a while. And the automakers can continue to make their fuel guzzling SUVs and miniVans. Using the same old engine tech. And promising that “green fuel” will prevail, someday.
Electric cars is the future. Face it. Only long haul trucks and buses, and heavy duty vehicles, require fuel. And most use diesel fuel anyway. The other 90% of US drivers rarely travel over 50 miles a day. And with the future becoming more “work at home” jobs, rather than work in another State or town. Automobile travel will likely decrease in range, even more.
And funding more commuter rail systems, rather than foreign oil alternatives, would help the environment and economy. But the Automakers have sold us on the need to be independent, and drive our butts to distant places. Risking accidents, losing sleep, burning gallons of gas, just to propel a 1/2 ton of tin with your butt in it. Very inefficient. Carpools help. But trains and buses are much safer. If they exist, and go where you want them to.
The problem is, long ago the US gov. promoted urban sprawl and isolation, so to help the Automakers make a killing selling big cars, and long trips in them. As if that’s better than finding a job or amusement, closer to home. Maybe not a Disneyworld in every US state. But certainly more than just two, in all of 48 of them.
Right now, the price of electricity in most (if not all) US states is regulated. Raising rates usually requires some legislative permission. And so it does fluctuate daily, as gas prices now do. So keeping us dependent on pumped fuels, whatever the source, keeps us at the mercy (or lack thereof), whims and greed of these commodity markets. Which aren’t price regulated.
It’s not your local gas stations that price gouge. In spite of what our gutless news stations imply, who fail to delve any further. It’s the petroleum refining industry. That works more like a secretive organized crime cabal. Manipulating supply and prices. Much the same way the gem industry does. And not being accountable to anyone, in spite of supplying the nation’s “life blood” as fuel.
But just like life saving drugs, the US Gov completely avoids regulating fuel sales. As if its still a luxury to drive anywhere, at any time. This ain’t 1910, any more!! In fact any price regulation of this vital commodity is a hundred years overdue.
And isn’t in interesting how neither the Gulf War, 9-11, or the Iraq War, caused a rapid spike in oil prices like this little skirmish in Libya has. Someone’s getting stinking rich off this. And the GOP controlled Congress has its hands over its ears, eyes and mouths, about it. Coincidence, the GOP is in charge? NOPE!
#27 Glenn – Alright, who the hell let you in here? Clear thinking like that is gonna cause some flairups with the conservos on this blog. Let the sanity bashing begin.
Don’t want “Alternative Fuels” – want Cars the NEVER NEED TO GO TO A GAS STATION – EVER !!!
While it might not be competitive with petroleum at the current pump price, you have to remember that the current pump price is not anywhere near what we actually pay for our petroleum fuel supply. The real price includes the cost of keeping the oil flowing from the Middle East, Venezuela and other unfriendly places.
Even if most of our imports are from nice, friendly Canada, it’s a world market, and any disruption in supply from the big bad Arabs will affect the price and or available quantity from Canada. So, in order to keep the status quo, we have to keep the oil flowing from the OPEC bastards, and the cost of doing so is destroying our economy not to mention any remaining ethical status we may have had.
So, I hope this technology works out. But, like nuclear fusion which has been 20 years in the future since I was in high school in the 1970s, I ain’t holding my breath!