by Sommer Brokaw (UPI) Sugar can be transformed into hydrocarbons found in gasoline by feeding glucose to strains of E. coli that don’t harm human health, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Chemistry.
“Making biofuels from renewable resources like glucose has great potential to advance green energy technology,” lead study author Zhen Wang said in a press release.
“We combined what biology can do the best with what chemistry can do the best, and we put them together to create this two-step process,” said Wanga professor and biochemist at the University of Buffalo.
Researchers used genetic engineering to convert E. coli microbes into a suite of four enzymes that convert glucose into 3-hydroxy fatty acids.
“These microbes are sugar junkies, even worse than our kids,” Wang said.
Next, researchers used the inorganic compound niobium pentoxide as a catalyst to cut off unwanted parts of the fatty acids, generating a types of hydrocarbons called olefins.
Olefins are one of of several types of molecules that make up gasoline.
“Using this method, we were able to make olefins directly from glucose,” Wang said. “Glucose is produced by plants through photosynthesis, which turns carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and sugar. So the carbon in the glucose — and later the olefins — is actually from carbon dioxide that has been pulled out of the atmosphere.” READ MORE
A dual cellular–heterogeneous catalyst strategy for the production of olefins from glucose (Nature Chemistry)
Glucose Comes from Photosynthesis, Which Pulls CO2 Out of the Air (AZO Materials)