Researchers Discover Enzyme That Harnesses Light To Make Hydrocarbons (acs.org)

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Researchers Discover Enzyme That Harnesses Light To Make Hydrocarbons (acs.org)

Posted by BeauHD on Friday September 1, 2017 @01:30PM from the pearly-whites dept.

Researchers from the Biosciences and Biotechnologies Institute of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission have discovered a new light-driven enzyme, christened fatty acid photodecarboxylase (FAP), that uses blue light to drive the removal of carboxyl groups from fatty acids to form alkanes or alkenes. Such an enzyme could be used as fuel with no further modification. The Biological SCENE reports: FAP joins a select group of so-called photoenzymes, including DNA-repair enzymes called photolyases, that use light for catalysis on their own rather than functioning as part of a larger complex such as photosystems I or II, which are used by plants and algae for photosynthesis. FAP contains flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), which commonly serves as a redox cofactor in biological reactions. In the case of FAP, however, FAD absorbs blue light to reach an excited state that abstracts an electron from the carboxylate group of a C12 to C18 fatty acid, which then decarboxylates to yield an alkane or alkene. The study has been published in the journal Science. Further reading: Ars Technica

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Photosynthesis on human skin.. by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 13:46 · Score: 0

Then we the poor, dont have to worry about hunger or growing crops..just relax by pool or river or sea.
1. Re:Photosynthesis on human skin.. by mark-t · 2017-09-01 14:04 · Score: 1, Troll
  
  Well, we know what happened to Doctor Reginald Bushroot was trying to do something similar....
  
  --
  File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
2. Re:Photosynthesis on human skin.. by ShanghaiBill · 2017-09-01 14:39 · Score: 1, Troll
  
  Can Orion Slave Girls photosynthesize?
3. Re: Photosynthesis on human skin.. by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 15:00 · Score: 0
  
  No, only the Beggars in Spain.
4. Re:Photosynthesis on human skin.. by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 15:07 · Score: 0
  
  Can Orion Slave Girls photosynthesize?
  I could FAP to that.
  captcha: mounted
This is Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 14:00 · Score: 2, Funny

There's already an overabundance of "fap" enzymes here.
1. Re:This is Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 17:33 · Score: 0
  
  It's just a FAD.
  But it does get you in an excited state.
Re: Scientists also discovered by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 14:19 · Score: 0

Fine. Present them!
Re: Scientists also discovered by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 14:20 · Score: 0

Well SHIT now I'm nervous damn you NERDS for making me feel embarrassed
Goodbye solar energy and electric cars by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 14:39 · Score: 0

Lets ramp up RENEWAL hydrocarbon fuel production!
Now, this is news for nerds! by msauve · 2017-09-01 14:40 · Score: 0

" discovered a new light-driven enzyme, christened fatty acid photodecarboxylase (FAP)"

Let the fapping begin!

--
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Too much... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 14:44 · Score: 0

Fapping around here! Fap, fap, fap, fap, aaaaahhh!
FAP by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 14:53 · Score: 0

I'm already very familiar with all enzymes related to all things fap.
1. Re:FAP by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-02 19:51 · Score: 0
  
  Yikes. Did they really not check with anyone Internet-savvy before naming this thing?
  Either they are clueless cave dwellers or it's April 1 already.
Re: Scientists also discovered by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 14:57 · Score: 0

Hey man, it's ok, I bet you have great balls, and I'd be happy to suck them.
Re: Scientists also discovered by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 15:00 · Score: 0

Ah geez you NERDS are just the best you know, making me feel are WARM and FUZZY inside. I love you NERDS! (takes off clothes)
Re: Scientists also discovered by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 15:01 · Score: 0

(tenderly puts balls in mouth)
SCHLORP, SCHLORP, SCHLORP...
Scientists find evidence of water by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 15:34 · Score: 0

in Houston.
no thank you by emorning · 2017-09-01 16:14 · Score: 1

I'm no chemist but I'm guessing that the byproduct of burning said hydrocarbons is probably carbon dioxide.
1. Re:no thank you by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 17:01 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Chemist here. The loss of the carboxyl group (the COO part R-COOH, where R is a long chain saturated or unsaturated hydrocarbon depending on source) in fat or vegetable oil acids produces CO2. The resulting hydrocarbons (R-H) will have somewhere between 16 to 18 (plus or minus) carbon atoms and be may be solid or thick oily materials at room temperature, not likely suitable for vehicle fuel. Burning one molecule of a C-18 hydrocarbon will produce 18 molecules of CO2. If you want to use the acids produced from fat or vegetable oils as some kind of fuel, why not just burn the fat and save the expense in time of producing the high molecular weight hydrocarbons from them? For vehicle fuel one would need to crack these hydrocarbons and make branched chain HCs for gasoline, but that's a whole other story.
2. Re:no thank you by glenebob · 2017-09-01 17:06 · Score: 0
  
  Of course it is, but if the carbon that is released during combustion was sourced from the atmosphere or ocean in recent times, them it is a so call Carbon Neutral cycle.
  You exhale carbon dioxide. Oh noes!
3. Re: no thank you by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 18:15 · Score: 0
  
  Algae use CO2 with photosynthesis to grow and to produce lipids (fat) the fat is then directly convert into diesel by the FAP. Bilan is carbon neutral. Ps fat can not be directly use as fuel. Lipids are chemicaly convert into diester before.
  Moreover lipids come from biomass that mean photosynthsis.
4. Re:no thank you by wierd_w · 2017-09-01 20:40 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Hello anonymous chemist, I would think that the more useful application for this enzyme is to convert abundant plant derived fatty acids into suitable high weight molecular precursors for plastic synthesis in a post peak-oil economy, as the costs of crude oil derived hydrocarbons becomes more and more onerous.
  Coupled with some of the other inorganic catalysts used in crude refinement (to increase the fraction of lighter alkanes, and thus improve fuel oil yields from paraffin rich crude sources, such as tar sand) it might even be able to partially bolster the demand for fuel oil, but you are correct that it is more economical to just burn the fatty acid in appropriate engines. (Trans-esters of fatty acids, processed with lye and methanol, are the bread and butter of existing biodiesel fuels.)
5. Re:no thank you by nospam007 · 2017-09-01 20:50 · Score: 1
  
  " If you want to use the acids produced from fat or vegetable oils as some kind of fuel, why not just burn the fat and save the expense in time of producing the high molecular weight hydrocarbons from them? "
  I'd prefer to use a band of blue LEDs around my fatty tummy and piss the acid out while exhaling the CO2 and getting thinner and thinner.
  I guess some such gimmick will appear on Goop any minute now.
6. Re:no thank you by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 21:36 · Score: 0
  
  Yes. The "life-cycle-analysts" say that when you burn wood, the CO2 that enters the atmosphere by doing that, was actually in the atmosphere already pretty recently. So, they say, that is CO2 neutral.
  Same here: You take CO2 from the atmosphere (in some plant) convert the plant to fuel, burn the fuel to replenish the CO2 you harvested from the atmosphere in the first place. Sustainable!
  Now, I fully agree with you that instead of burning said plants (directly, through wood, or converted by an enzyme) it would be better to, say, store that carbon as trapped as solid carbon(compounds) somewhere. Maybe build a house or something like that.
7. Re:no thank you by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 23:05 · Score: 1
  
  Another chemist here. The resulting alkanes have minimal utility for plastic production since they are inert and WAY too expensive. Using this process for fuel purposes is also WAY uneconomical as it will never compete with bioethanol. No point in a special blue-light catalyzed reaction when standard fermentation gives us a fuel at 1/10th the cost.
  The main use for the research is that it was cool. Not everything that makes C&E News has any impact on society. In fact, I would guestimate that 0.1% of featured research blurbs will have industrial relevance. The stuff that actually affects society is done in industry, not academia. Nevertheless the people who work in the industrial labs all graduated from university labs so the academic R&D dollars are not actually wasted.
8. Re:no thank you by drinkypoo · 2017-09-01 23:34 · Score: 1
  
  but you are correct that it is more economical to just burn the fatty acid in appropriate engines. (Trans-esters of fatty acids, processed with lye and methanol, are the bread and butter of existing biodiesel fuels.)
  Chemical transesterification of fats into biodiesel produces an inferior fuel. Green diesel, where fats are hydrocracked, produces a superior product. Most engines run on gasoline anyway, and we could be fueling them with Butanol.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
9. Re:no thank you by OneAhead · 2017-09-02 02:00 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  The stuff that actually affects society is done in industry, not academia. Nevertheless the people who work in the industrial labs all graduated from university labs so the academic R&D dollars are not actually wasted.
  Pray tell, what kind of university trained you as a chemist without, apparently, giving you any kind of primer on fundamental research versus applied research, and their distinctive but mutually beneficial roles in society?
10. Re: no thank you by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-02 02:56 · Score: 0
  
  Bio ethanol is a remarkably shitty fuel, and is commercially viable only because the governments have mandated it to be used. Ethanol is hygroscopic and has a significantly lower mass energy density than alkanes. Both of those, for example, make it terrible for aviation, and ethanol is a beautiful fuel for all sorts of things that grow in fuel tanks.
  Oh, and cracking Alkanes is pretty old hat. its not just a million barrels a day that gets cracked.
11. Re:no thank you by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-02 03:09 · Score: 0
  
  One of the problems with the notion that using bio produced fuels (wood, algae, fat, alcohol from corn, etc.) is carbon neutral may not include the time involved in removing the carbon from the atmosphere. Trees take a long time to be renewed, though using some agricultural sources, like corn, has a one year cycle. My guess is that more trees are being removed than replaced. It's clear the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing and has been since the industrial revolution but nothing we do is having the effect of sequestering it through natural or agricultural processes. The oceans are getting more acidic and that may lead to problems. The increase in atmospheric CO2 is likely due to combustion of materials - coal and petroleum - that took a very long time to create by sequestering CO2 and is not likely to be replicated during the remaining human existence on the planet. It's possible the current human race will become extinct and before the sun destroys the planet a new human race will evolve and be smarter than the current one. I wouldn't bet on it, though.
12. Re:no thank you by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-02 03:29 · Score: 0
  
  Pray tell, what kind of university trained you in snark?
13. Re:no thank you by doctorvo · 2017-09-02 03:46 · Score: 1
  
  I would think that the more useful application for this enzyme is to convert abundant plant derived fatty acids into suitable high weight molecular precursors for plastic synthesis in a post peak-oil economy, as the costs of crude oil derived hydrocarbons becomes more and more onerous.
  Peak oil is a myth. We're going to largely switch to renewables within a few decades, and after that, we're going to have a massive oversupply of oil, and that's not even counting the massive reserves in the rest of the solar system. Long chain alkanes need to be cracked before turning them into plastics, and plastics are moving increasingly towards renewables as well.
14. Re: no thank you by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-02 04:05 · Score: 0
  
  "Long chain alkanes need to be cracked before turning them into plastics anyway"
  The fuck are you gojng on about there? Alkanes don't become plastics. They become gasoline.
15. Re: no thank you by manu0601 · 2017-09-02 13:32 · Score: 1
  
  Bilan is carbon neutral
  Where does the removed carbonyl group goes? I wonder how you are going to avoid a CO2 molecule to be emitted in the end.
16. Re:no thank you by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-02 17:20 · Score: 0
  
  perhaps it was the chemistry department at Trump University
Gee, I wonder who's funding this research? by rnturn · 2017-09-01 16:42 · Score: 1

[cough]petroleum company[cough]
I think we'd be better off funding research to deal with the overabundance of carbon dioxide. But let's do everything we can to avoid weaning our society off the internal combustion engine. Surely wouldn't want to leave that in the dustbin where it belongs would we?

--
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
1. Re:Gee, I wonder who's funding this research? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 17:36 · Score: 0
  
  Look at me still talking when there's science to do,
  when I look out there it makes me glad I'm not you.
2. Re:Gee, I wonder who's funding this research? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 17:51 · Score: 1
  
  "avoid weaning our society off the internal combustion engine."
  This is easier said than done. And it is a global problem not a localized situation. Any migration away from internal combustion engines running on hydrocarbons is a 50 to 100 year process. The entire world runs on hydrocarbons and so far the alternatives are still in their Model T phase. And it is not only the vehicles it is the infrastructure needed to support these vehicles that will end up being a long drawn out and expensive project. Look at the number of gas stations the next time you jump in the car and you will get a good idea of how many charging stations would be needed to support the number of vehicles on the road today. Eventually the change over will happen but I doubt any one alive today will notice any big changes in their life time. If the human race is still a going concern in 100 years they will be the ones who will most likely see the change over making progress.
3. Re:Gee, I wonder who's funding this research? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 18:17 · Score: 0
  
  When I look out all I see are Teslas and supercharger stations... must be my neighborhood.
4. Re:Gee, I wonder who's funding this research? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 19:05 · Score: 0
  
  When I look out all I see are Teslas and supercharger stations... must be my neighborhood.
  Yes, your tiny corner of the world, being made less relevant each day. The world is leaving you behind. Build your wall then hide behind it, but by all means don't stop chanting "greatest country in the world".
5. Re: Gee, I wonder who's funding this research? by prefec2 · 2017-09-01 20:39 · Score: 1
  
  No, we only have 30 years left to get CO2 neutral. We do not have 100 years left or even 50.
6. Re:Gee, I wonder who's funding this research? by Zumbs · 2017-09-01 21:47 · Score: 1
  
  China is investing heavily in electric cars, to the point that 352,000 electric cars were registered in 2016, compared to 159,000 electric cars in the USA. Most of the Chinese cars were produced in China by Chinese companies. In 2014 president Xi Jinping launched a strategy get China in the lead as a producer of electric cars, with a stated goal of getting 1/5 of all cars in China to be either electric or hybrid trough subsidies of those types of cars.
  So, assuming GP is located somewhere in the USA, it is not just there.At least one superpower is pushing for it.
  
  --
  The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head
7. Re:Gee, I wonder who's funding this research? by CrimsonAvenger · 2017-09-01 22:58 · Score: 1
  
  Hmm, twice the number of electric cars, four times the population. I'm not seeing that as quite the leading edge....
  
  --
  
  "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
8. Re:Gee, I wonder who's funding this research? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-02 01:04 · Score: 1
  
  You shouldn't go off population but something like number of drivers, cars, or some other derived value. From what I can google the US has more cars than China.
9. Re:Gee, I wonder who's funding this research? by Zumbs · 2017-09-02 01:19 · Score: 2
  
  Hmm, twice the number of electric cars at 60% of the GDP. I'm not seeing your argument ;-)
  
  --
  The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head
10. Re:Gee, I wonder who's funding this research? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-02 01:25 · Score: 1
  
  Given that the supporting agencies are listed in the manuscript itself, there's no need to wonder.
  "This work was supported by grants from L’Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) (MUSCA ANR-13-JSV5-0005 to Y.L-B. and A*MIDEX ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02 to G.P.), the European Union (EU) (Sun2Chem project of ERASynBio), the French Infrastructure for Integrated Structural Biology (ANR-10-INSB-05-01), the Proteomics French Infrastructure (ANR-10-INBS-08-01), and the HelioBiotec platform funded by the EU, the région Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur (PACA), the French Ministry of Research, and the CEA."
11. Re:Gee, I wonder who's funding this research? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-02 03:22 · Score: 0
  
  You live in Tesla's factory?
12. Re:Gee, I wonder who's funding this research? by thinkwaitfast · 2017-09-02 07:34 · Score: 1
  
  I have never seen a Tesla. In fact, the only electric car I have ever seen is the one that I own. I even visited (downtown) Seattle last year and had expected to see it full of electric cars. Nope. Saw a lot of expensive SUVs though.
13. Re: Gee, I wonder who's funding this research? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-02 07:38 · Score: 0
  
  Most people reading this comment will be dead in five years.
  https://guymcpherson.com/
I am by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 18:58 · Score: 0

already running on fap
This is carbon neutral by DanDD · 2017-09-01 19:12 · Score: 3

Dude, this is carbon neutral. Draw a control volume, do some chemistry and thermo... the carbon for this hydrocarbon comes from the atmosphere. Upon combustion, it goes back into the atmosphere.
As a bonus. not all hydrocarbon from this process needs to be burned. Sequester it in underground caverns or beneath the sea, like hydrate deposits, and you'll effectively be taking carbon out of the atmosphere.
This is a very interesting development with a lot of promise!

--
"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race." - H. G. Wells
Burning the enzyme???? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-01 21:47 · Score: 2, Interesting

I would think that burning the expensive enzyme (instead of the fuel it produces) is quite wasteful.....
FAP by dkman · 2017-09-02 01:36 · Score: 1

And they say scientists don't have a sense of humor.

--
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