by Beth Miller (University of Delaware) Mixotrophy twist leads researchers to higher yields, lower emissions — You don’t have to be a beer lover to understand the chemistry behind new research emerging from two labs at the University of Delaware and their collaborators at White Dog Labs in New Castle, Delaware. But if you are, you might want to raise a toast to their latest brew.
They’re not working with hops and malt, mind you, but the same engine that produces beer – fermentation – drives the work now featured in a new article in Nature Communications.
Unlike that barley soda, which sparkles with little bubbles of escaping carbon dioxide, the product these researchers are delivering – acetone – comes with near-zero carbon emissions.
Researchers have identified a promising blend of bacteria and synthesis gas that, in laboratory tests, is producing much more acetone than other methods while avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions dilemma.
The acetone is a proof-of-concept project with value of its own, but it also could lead to significant advances in the quest to produce biofuels…
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In this study, researchers tested how the bacteria known as Clostridium ljungdahlii would do with two sources of fuel – sugars and synthesis gas – in the fermentation process.
They wanted maximum yield, minimal emission – and they got more than they hoped for on both counts.
The bacteria gobbled up both the sugars and the gas, gave off virtually no carbon dioxide and produced 38 percent more acetone than the previous maximum. READ MORE Abstract (Nature Communications)