Producing gasoline from ... bacteria diarrhea

Escherichia Coli bacteria can cause serious food poisoning, even death. But recently, Korean scientists have used it for useful purposes: Creating gasoline.

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Genetic modification of Escherichia Coli bacteria (or E. coli bacteria, intestinal parasites) is not new. In April last year, British scientists developed a process for genetically modified bacteria to form a diesel-like oil, following the study of US biotech company LS9 in the year. 2010.

According to the head of the research group - Professor Lee Sang-yap of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology - this is a significant breakthrough because gasoline is a more expensive fuel than diesel and is highly commercial. The study is published in the September 30 issue of Nature.

Genetic modification of E. coli bacteria can produce gasoline.(Photo: infobae.com)

"The importance of this breakthrough is that there is no need to undergo a process of generating gasoline from E. coli. We have succeeded in converting biomass or glucose directly into gasoline. The type of gas that we create It can be used for cars, it has the same composition and chemical properties as conventional combustion fuels, " Professor Lee told The Wall Street Journal.

According to Lee, when E. coli is absorbed by sugars found in plants or other non-food crops, they will produce enzymes that convert sugar into fatty acids, then turn into hydrocarbons - structures. chemistry in commercial fuels is being commercialized.

However, the professor said that the day the car uses this 'microbial gasoline' is still far away. Now Lee's KAIST lab can only produce a few drops of fuel per hour and extract about 580 mg of gasoline from 1 liter of natural glucose.

'Our next goal is to produce 3g gasoline in an hour, then lift it up to 10g, even 20g. After that, we will commercialize the product , 'Professor said.

While biofuels are considered a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels, many argue against their use by fear of diverting crops to produce energy, pushing up food prices. .

Mr. Lee rejected those comments and said: 'I know there are arguments about food and fuel but I disagree with that argument. There are tons of biomass being wasted every day and many types of biomass fuels can be used. We can generate energy without harming the food chain and the environment '.