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Echeria Coli Co-Opted To Make Gasoline

Posted by Zonk on from the good-first-step-i-guess dept.

Flask_Man writes "Technology Review has an article about a small biotech company in the Silicon Valley that has successfully produced renewable gasoline from genetically modified bacteria, including the nefarious E.Coli bacteria. A pilot plant is slated to be constructed in California in 2008, and it is claimed that hundreds of different hydrocarbon molecules are capable of being produced. The modified bacteria make and excrete hydrocarbon molecules that are the length and molecular structure the company desires. From the article: 'To do this, the company is employing tools from the field of synthetic biology to modify the genetic pathways that bacteria, plants, and animals use to make fatty acids, one of the main ways that organisms store energy. Fatty acids are chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms strung together in a particular arrangement, with a carboxylic acid group made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen attached at one end. Take away the acid, and you're left with a hydrocarbon that can be made into fuel.'" We discussed something similar to this earlier this year.

3 of 331 comments (clear)

  1. conservation of mass? by circletimessquare · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    "Either that, or there's something unsaid that I'm missing. It seems like you're forgetting conservation of mass."

    dude, the input is CO2 and sunlight, just like any plant on this planet, producing, at best, energy rich sugar. this is something most 4th graders know. we just want them to produce energy rich octane instead, that's the holy grail

    but please, put down the marijuana before posting next time

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  2. Re:So this is what by GreyPoopon · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    placing SUVs in a separate vehicle classification and requiring more stringent driving skill tests would quickly disqualify most of the folks who have been presuming to drive these vehicles.

    A much easier way to accomplish this is to pass a law that requires that all SUVs have a tamper-proof short-range wireless jammer installed that activates when the engine is running, thus preventing people from making mobile phone calls while driving. I think we all know exactly which class of people this would impact, and I'm going out on a limb and saying that it's the same people that have no concept of cost and value. Those people who actually NEED SUVs for either their job or the area they live in would still be able to get them without paying more or having to pass a more stringent driving test. Those who DON'T need an SUV would find an alternate vehicle that allows them to feed their mobile addiction while driving.
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    GreyPoopon
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    Why is it I can write insightful comments but can't come up with a clever signature?

  3. Re:So this is what by mccabem · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    SUV drivers are lumbering, but they are not the worst.


    I dunno about elsewhere, but of the places I've lived the Volvo drivers are universally the worst. Not even the SUV'ers exuse of having a "lumbering vehicle".

    And at least with SUV'ers it seems there is at least a subset of them who *can* drive alright. I have yet to encounter that group of Volvo-ites.