Solar Powered Microbes Manufacture Biofuels

esocid alerts us to news that scientists from the University of Texas at Austin have created a microbe capable of making cellulose, which can then be turned into ethanol. The bacteria use sunlight as an energy source, and the cellulose can be harvested without destroying them. Quoting: "The new cyanobacteria produce a relatively pure, gel-like form of cellulose that can be broken down easily into glucose. 'The problem with cellulose harvested from plants is that it's difficult to break down because it's highly crystalline and mixed with lignins [for structure] and other compounds,' Nobles says. He was surprised to discover that the cyanobacteria also secrete large amounts of glucose or sucrose, sugars that can be directly harvested from the organisms."

Comments

Gotta love this gene splicing technology

[falsemover]

Ingenious - I love this gene transfer and splicing stuff. These scientists should get a Nobel prize for this, this is way cooler than dynamite or nitroglycerine. How quickly can we get this ultra fuel into the mainstream. I hope it's quicker than those ultra efficient solar cells you can print onto any surface that were meant to revolutionize renewable energy - it's been years and I haven't heard hide nor hair of them. Anyone got an update on that tech?