Bacteria of future energy storage bacteria

Finding alternative sources of energy has become increasingly urgent as traditional fuel sources are rapidly depleting. The sun, wind and tidal waves - that is the end, is the " poetry " that accompanies these sources. But how to extract electricity from these sources?

Recent calculations show that coal and oil and gas are only used for a quarter of a century and they are no longer with humanity entering the 20th century. The sun, wind and tidal waves are an endless source of natural energy, which can give mankind a huge amount of electricity.

The remaining difficult problem is that technology turns into electricity and especially this technology of accumulating and transporting this crazy source.

We are responsible for creating batteries for the future

(Photo: Pravda.ru)

Electricity production - that's just part of the task that energy learners have to solve. It needs to store it and transfer it to consumers. Designers must create batteries for the future, large capacity and safety. They had to rely on " natural mother " to devise a unique method of accumulating electricity billions of years ago, at the dawn of life on Earth.

A new technology, discovered by Professor Bruce Lohan, of the University of Pennsylvania (USA), allows keeping charges in methane bubbles. To do this, the scientist took advantage of a product of nature that is methanobacterium palustre. This bacterium, known to humans, has long been able to convert carbon dioxide into methane.

The bacterium methanobacteria is one of the oldest microorganisms on Earth and originated from the first single cell. As with the direct descendants of archivebacteria, without individuals and any other organism, there is a higher ' life expectancy ' than any other microorganism. It is methanobacteria that produces a very unpleasant odor of methane, characterized by the smell of mud or sewer odor.

Studies show that in nature, methanobacteria can store electronic charge, which people use as fuel when exchanging with other energy devices. Under the weak discharge of bacteria, tiny methane bubbles escape, which keeps a large amount of electrons. Lohan and his colleagues discovered that if a layer of bacteria were placed on the cathode and under the effect of a weak voltage, they would be covered with a tiny layer of methane foam.

By its own evolutionary path, methanobacteria have known how to charge based on the chemical properties of methane. The efficiency of this method of charge is abnormally high, up to 80%. None of the electrical devices that humans make match with nature because a large part of the energy must be used to overcome the resistance phenomenon, the warming of the transmission line and the electrochemical reactions.

Prospects of technology " old but new "

" We are pursuing new ways to store energy. We are on the way to create new energy storage methods, where we can convert electricity into energy. biology ". Prof. Bruce Lohan commented on his research results. Although the greenhouse effect of this technology has not been considered (methane is dangerous to the atmosphere, it is no less than carbon dioxide), it is only known that methanobacteria can store solar energy, wind energy and tidal energy with Costs are much lower than traditional batteries.

To apply new methods in industry, scientists must study the process of turning carbon dioxide into methane. It is necessary to discover the 'secrets' of this transformation and the number of ' stages ' that the bacteria have taken to achieve similar results. Only grasping the cell's mechanism of operation can create the most effective energy storage devices.

According to the energy industry experts as well as microbiologists, this technology ' old but new ' is very promising. The electricity generated from the ' devices ' of this alternative energy source is clearly not enough to solve all of the energy needs of mankind, but it is sufficient to produce huge amounts of methane as a matter of course. Basic material of the future.

Many people are skeptical that when it comes to practicality, will the effective coefficients of these microbial batteries achieve the same criteria as when they did the experiment? That is the " order " for Professor Lohan to be considered his top concern in designing prototypes for a microbial battery operating under normal conditions.