Spring Break
Fuel for the future
Scientists believe deadly bacteria holds key to future energy source
By: Nathan Ball
Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: News
Wood's Texas A&M research team is the first to have successfully manipulated any bacteria to produce a usable amount of hydrogen. He credited his graduate students, Toshinari Maeda and Viviana Sanchez-Torres for this success, because he would never have been able to solve these problems alone.
"We have created a quintuple mutant...these five mutations have enhanced hydrogen production from formate 141-fold and have achieved the theoretical hydrogen yield (1 mol H2 / mol formate.) In addition, we have created a septuple mutant that increased hydrogen yield fivefold from glucose and improved hydrogen yield twofold from .65 to 1.3 mol H2 / mol glucose," stated Maeda, Sanchez-Torres and Wood In their journal article which was accepted Feb. 12.
With today's technology, Wood said that a filing cabinet-sized unit full of bacteria and sugar could be used to produce 1 kWh of power, enough to run a home with an operating cost of $6,000.
"Glucose has 12 hydrogens, and we are able to capture two to four of those," Wood said. He is sure that his research team can make the process even more efficient.
Wood said he envisions a car engine which houses bacteria to convert glucose to hydrogen for fuel cells. Could Americans one day drive a car which re-fuels with sugar instead of gasoline, and emits water instead of greenhouse gasses? Wood said he thinks so.
"This is very exciting research," she said, "right now we are starting to see progress and this technology could be very important for the future. It is good for the environment," said Sanchez-Torres, who has been working with Wood for two years.
Hydrogen fuel is expensive to transport as well, added Andrea Gaizon Sanabria, a Chemical Engineering graduate student who has been working with Wood for six months. The U.S. currently has no infrastructure to support hydrogen, she said
"The advantage of this technology with E. coli is that the hydrogen can be produced where it is needed."
Wood's research group of seven graduate students continues to make the process more efficient and increase the hydrogen production rate hoping to make Wood's hydrogen energy future a reality.
"We have created a quintuple mutant...these five mutations have enhanced hydrogen production from formate 141-fold and have achieved the theoretical hydrogen yield (1 mol H2 / mol formate.) In addition, we have created a septuple mutant that increased hydrogen yield fivefold from glucose and improved hydrogen yield twofold from .65 to 1.3 mol H2 / mol glucose," stated Maeda, Sanchez-Torres and Wood In their journal article which was accepted Feb. 12.
With today's technology, Wood said that a filing cabinet-sized unit full of bacteria and sugar could be used to produce 1 kWh of power, enough to run a home with an operating cost of $6,000.
"Glucose has 12 hydrogens, and we are able to capture two to four of those," Wood said. He is sure that his research team can make the process even more efficient.
Wood said he envisions a car engine which houses bacteria to convert glucose to hydrogen for fuel cells. Could Americans one day drive a car which re-fuels with sugar instead of gasoline, and emits water instead of greenhouse gasses? Wood said he thinks so.
"This is very exciting research," she said, "right now we are starting to see progress and this technology could be very important for the future. It is good for the environment," said Sanchez-Torres, who has been working with Wood for two years.
Hydrogen fuel is expensive to transport as well, added Andrea Gaizon Sanabria, a Chemical Engineering graduate student who has been working with Wood for six months. The U.S. currently has no infrastructure to support hydrogen, she said
"The advantage of this technology with E. coli is that the hydrogen can be produced where it is needed."
Wood's research group of seven graduate students continues to make the process more efficient and increase the hydrogen production rate hoping to make Wood's hydrogen energy future a reality.
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