Termites, the solution to the global energy?

The demand for ethanol instead of gasoline and oil in the world is increasing, however, because the production cost of this 'clean fuel' is still quite high, they cannot compete with the fuel. current system.

Recently, an American team of scientists said it was possible to reduce the cost of ethanol production from wood materials thanks to the mechanism of feed digestion in termites.

Will termites save us?Photo: ABC

Reduce the cost of ethanol production through termites?

With the current technology, the production of ethanol from wood materials costs a lot of energy, because the cost of a gas that does not harm this environment is very high. Therefore, Dr. Scarf and colleagues from the University of Florida (USA) have been studying for the past five years to find out the mechanism of converting wood into sugars in termites - the kind of insects that damage the United States. 2 billion dollars / year. Despite many difficulties, the initial research results showed quite positive signals.

After the study, the scientists identified more than 6,555 types of genes involved in the transformation of wood into intestinal tract more than 2,500 termite workers. Currently, the team has identified which genes are most important in the conversion of wood fibers into sugars - the final product to refine ethanol.

How is the transformation from wood into sugar?

The process is started when wood particles, like sawdust, are transferred into the gut of the termite. Here, termites will secrete protein catalysts. After that, the wood will be transferred to the final part. In this process, wood particles will be transformed into sugars by the action of a bacterium that forms like enzymes produced by termites.

"Enzymes and bacteria play an important role in the process of converting wood into sugar in the body of termites ," Dr. Scharf said. "Clearly, termite bacteria are not signatures. They act as important partners in this transformation. '

Enzyme production on an industrial scale

With the understanding of the transition from wood to gut, Dr. Scarf and his colleagues were able to find a solution for their research. Termites use enzymes produced by them as well as by the help of bacteria to convert wood into sugar. All the scientists need to do now is find a way to produce a large amount of those enzymes and bacteria to convert wood into sugar at industrial scale. After that, the sugar will be easily processed into ethanol using current technology.

"The first thing people might think we would have to create a giant factory of millions of termites in it to produce enzymes," Dr. Scharf said. 'Perhaps that should be used as a script for a set. horror movies are better, but we need to find a more effective way to produce enzymes. '

The scientists came up with the idea of ​​producing enzymes by transplanting genes that make enzymes of termites into other living organisms that can reproduce faster. Another problem is that we also need a large amount of bacteria in the termite gut.

"With today's biotechnology, we can create genetically modified microbes in the lab. Then you can use biological reactions to create the number of microbes you need. ' Dr. Scharf said. ' The single-cell microbes can replicate themselves after 20 minutes and that means you can get hundreds of kilograms of microorganisms in a very short time if produced on a large scale. ".

Although scientists have not yet succeeded in producing ethanol by this method, these studies also give us a new direction to reduce the cost of producing ethanol - the fuel that is supposed to replace Gasoline in the future.