E.coli bacteria can produce diesel

(Specials) - Special strains of E.Coli bacteria can produce standard diesel oil. It sounds like science fiction, but there is actually a research team from Exeter University, with support from Shell, that has developed a method to make diesel-producing bacteria on demand.

While this technology still faces a lot of commercial challenges, diesel oil is produced by special strains of E. coli, which are the most like diesel and therefore do not need to be blended. mix this product with other petroleum products, while biodiesel from vegetable oils need it.

This also means that diesel from the above mentioned E.coli strains can be used with existing infrastructure, there will be no need to modify the engines, oil pipelines as well as the oil tank.

Professor John Love from the Department of Biological Sciences at Exeter University said: 'Producing a commercial biofuel that can be used without changing transport means is the purpose of the project. this from the beginning. Replacing traditional diesel oil with a commercial carbon neutral biofuel will be a big step towards achieving our goal of cutting 80% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Demand Global energy is rising and an independent fuel compared to both political instability and oil price volatility is an increasingly attractive prospect. '

E.coli bacteria transform sugars into fats to build their cell membranes. Synthetic fuel oil molecules can be created by exploiting this natural oil production process. The use of E.coli as a catalyst has been popular in the pharmaceutical industry, and although bio-diesel is currently produced in small quantities in the laboratory, this work will continue to see if Is there a way to commercialize this fuel or not.

Rob Lee from the Technology Center and Shell Project said: 'We are proud of the research being done by Exeter in the application of advanced biotechnology to create characteristic hydrocarbon molecules that they We know that there will continue to be high demand in the future. While this technology still faces many barriers to commercialization, by discovering this new biofuel production method, along with other smart technologies, we hope they have can help us meet the challenges of limiting the increase in carbon dioxide emissions while meeting global synthetic fuel requirements ".