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Enzyme Bio-Battery Runs on Ethanol
mpthompson writes "According to this article at New Scientist.com substantial progress is being made on enzyme-catalyzed ethanol based batteries to run cell phones and laptops. Such batteries promise to be cheaper, safer and less toxic than previously demonstrated methanol based fuel cells."
Batteries run off of vodka or gin?
"A charge for you, and a blast for me."
EFGearman
Atomic batteries to power! Turbines to speed!
Overheating.
;-)
We all know that the enzymes hate heat - that is, they get denatured by heat. From what I feel on my lap when a laptop was put on it, I really wonder how do something as sensitive as enzyme withstand the working temperature of a computer (I guess that'll be one of the application, from the article).
When you shrink that (from the article, they are going to.), the problem goes even more wild...
Ethanol powered phones have been arround for decades.
I have talked to God on the porcelin telephone many times.
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
"We have actually run our cells off vodka and gin."
That's kept Liza Minelli running for close to sixty years, no reason it can't run my laptop for a few hours.
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Believe me, I'm as surprised by my comment as you are.
Novozymes Biotech in Davis, California is selectively breeding better enzymes for converting the cellulose in corn by-products to fermentable sugars. Who knows, maybe some day Kansas will power your calls.
First entomology, then virology, and finally bioinformatics systems. Bugs follow me wherever I go.
Now excuse me, my fuel cell needs a shot and then it wants to go to the bathroom.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
I really wonder how do something as sensitive as enzyme withstand the working temperature of a computer
There is a whole industry based on developing crosslinked enzyme crystals which are useful in industrial applications as catalysts. The crystals are literally poured out of plastic bottles as a powder and many can function in organic solvents (which would completely denature ordinary enzymes). The cross-linking holds together the overall tertiary structure of the enzyme, and the enzyme tends to hang onto water where it needs it to maintain secondary structure.
I don't know exactly how thermally stable they are, but I imagine they can take quite a bit. While the technology probably hasn't been applied to the enzymes in question I imgaine that if the money was there it could be done.
Also, nuclear power is incredibly expensive.
Other than that, good idea.
Man, it would be really great if you could walk into a grocerie store and buy 'Ethanol Packets' next to the Duracells, Energizers, and Ray-o-Vacs.
No, not to drink, you lushes. It would mean that there would be a new demand for vegetable crops, Corn in particular. While the DoA is one of the most corrupt branches of our government, one can't help but think that a new demand for corn in the form of a non-perishable liquid would cut the amount of money currently being used for subsidies.
An ethanol economy is not quite as desirable as a hyrdrogen economy, but it can still be very good.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
Yes, ethanol is cheap to make but expensive to buy. There'd have to some law changes to avoid having to pay the taxes associated with buying consumable alcohol. Using ethanol in the chem lab is pricy.
>>This is great news.
;)
Yeah, until you try to sneak it onto an expense report:
Taxi - $28.00
Meal @ airport - $11.45
Hotel - $85.00
Eight bottles of gin - $65.00
Something tell me that Wanda over in Accounting isn't goint to think that eight bottles of sauce looks quite so "great."
On the other hand, this may be the only case where conspicious consumption of alcohol is a justification for a promotion. "Gosh, boss, look at all these empty bottles! That's two more bottles than last week, don'cha think I deserve a raise?!?"
Now if only someone would invent edible CDs...
So here is the next question: a denaturing agent destroys the fuel cell. The (US) tax on non-denatured methanol is so excessive that it prohibits the use of these fuel cells in laptops, not to mention much better uses of the fuel cells, like clean running cars (where even with a road tax the tax would be much lower). So the question is, do we change the law to support this new clean technology, or do we keep an aribratary tax that is both about raising excessive revenue as well as about telling people how to live their lives? And if we get rid of a tax on alcohol to permit these fuel cells, what other rediculous law can replace it to show people that big brother can run their lives better than they can? And can I get laptop methanol without paying a road tax on it? And do methanol and programming really mix?
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Bender the robot uses Ethanol for power. A couple bottles of 'Old Fortran' kept him going for hours.
Now if I could only run my cell phone off of cigarettes, we could re-purpose the entire vice industry. We all know how useful hemp is too...
All non-regulated (as in BATF) ethanol is required by law to be denatured. There are two types of denaturing: complete and specical. Complete adds 5% methanol, rendering the mixture toxic for human consumption. Special denaturing adds a non-toxic additive to render the alcohol undrinkable. This is often done by adding phenopthalein, which (aside from being a pH indicator) is a powerful laxative. Drinking it will cause "severe gastrointestinal distress". Most consumer applications (like rubbing alcohol) use special denaturing (so they don't kill stupid alcoholics).
Just FYI for anyone thinking about using your laptop as a wetbar.
There are other enzymes that tolerate boiling, and other extreme conditions. They are inactive in the severe condition, but have such a stable tertiary structure that they snap right back when put into the proper environment again. Mammalian RNAses are notorious for this.
From the article, however, the restriction of the enzymes to these pockets may help. For those that don't know, enzymes have a structure like a ribbon (or several ribbons) that fold back on themselevs in a particular way. By thermodynamics, as you add heat, you add entropy and the ribbon moves around too much to stay in its functional orientation.
Keeping the enzyme in a small, restrictive pocket may restrict its random motion enough to help keep the ribbon from unfolding, allowing the enzyme to function at a higher temperature than it normally would.
There is a reason for everything. Sometimes that reason just sucks.
Stick one of these in a robot and voila: Bender!
Erm, an enzyme is just a huge molecule, isn't it? It isn't alive in any sense. Don't worry, you won't be oppressing any bacteria or anything -- never mind the millions of 'em each of us slaughter daily by breathing. :)