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New Bacterium Could Herald Bio-Batteries

Posted by timothy on from the are-animals-bio-batteries dept.

Clever Pun writes "According to this BBC article, a newly discovered bacterium is able to convert 'uranium and other radionuclides dissolved in water to solid compounds that can be extracted.' It reduces (adds electrons to) positively charged metal ions, making them insoluble in water (making them easier to clean up), which creates small charges of electricity. It has been speculated that this bacterium could potentially be used in a sort of bio-battery. Matrix v0.1b, anyone?"

4 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. heard this on NPR by jaredmauch · · Score: 5, Informative

    This was covered on NPR this past Friday. You can probally find some archive of it if you're interested in hearing it.. try here. It sounded interesting but not quite viable yet based on what I heard.

  2. Web site by RML · · Score: 5, Informative

    Quite a lot of information about this bacteria (Geobacter sulfurreducens) can be found at the Geobacter project home page.

    --
    Human/Ranger/Zangband
  3. My Batteries Died... by Sunlighter · · Score: 5, Funny

    That phrase will have new meaning...

    --
    Sunlit World Scheme. Weird and different.
  4. Energy Yields too low by spin2cool · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have my doubts that this sort of bio-battery will ever be useful on a widespread, large scale.

    Even anaerobic resiration by the most efficient organisms yields under 50% of the potential energy in their food. Secondary reactions like this typically occur at a much slower rate than life-sustaining reactions. What this means is that a fairly high amount of nutrients will have to be supplied, and that the resulting current generated will be relatively small compared to the potential energy sent in.

    I guess what I'm saying here is "don't expect a miracle bio-powered car from this."

    These bacteria will no doubt be useful in cleanup of contaminated sites, though. Perhaps soil could be placed into large decontamination devices, and the resulting electricity could be used for low-output pumps that drip nutrients into the chamber. Then you'd have a useful, self-powered detox device.