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READ MORE Powerful Fuel | JP-10 | Georgia Institute Of Technology | Engineered Bacterium | Bacteria

LONDON: The next generation of super

powerful fuel, capable of arming missiles and

space rockets may come from an engineered

bacterium.

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of

Technology have engineered a bacterium to

synthesize pinene - a hydrocarbon produced by

trees that could potentially replace high-energy

fuels such as JP-10 in missiles and other

aerospace applications.

By inserting enzymes from trees into the

bacterium, Georgia Tech scientist Stephen Sarria

boosted pinene production six-fold over earlier

bioengineering efforts. To be competitive, the

researchers will have to boost their production of

pinene 26-fold.

Though a more dramatic improvement will be

needed before pinene can compete with

petroleum-based JP-10, the scientists believe

they have identified the major obstacles that

must be overcome to reach that goal.

They say it may be possible to produce pinene at a cost lower than that

of petroleum-based sources.

If that can be done - and if the resulting bio-fuel operates well in these

applications - that could open the door for lighter and more powerful

engines fueled by increased supplies of high-energy fuels.

Pinene dimers which are result from the dimerization of pinene have

already been shown to have an energy density similar to that of JP-10.

"Fuels with high energy densities are important in applications where

minimizing fuel weight is important. The gasoline used to power automobiles and the diesel used

mainly in trucks both contain less energy per litre than the JP-10," the scientists said.

The molecular arrangement of JP-10 accounts for its higher energy density.

The amount of JP-10 that can be extracted from each barrel of oil is limited and sources of

potentially comparable compounds such as trees can't provide much help. The limited supply

drives the price of JP-10 to around $25 per gallon.

That price point gives researchers working on a biofuel alternative a real advantage over scientists

working on replacing gasoline and diesel.

Kounteya Sinha,TNN | Ma r 2 8 , 2 01 4 , 05 .5 8 A M IST

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Next generation super powerful fuel frombacteria

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology

have engineered a bacterium to

synthesize pinene – a hydrocarbon produced by

trees that could potentially replace high-energy

fuels such as JP-10 in missiles and other aerospace

applications.

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ALSO ON TOI

working on replacing gasoline and diesel.

"We have made a sustainable precursor to a tactical fuel with a high energy density. We are

concentrating on making a drop-in fuel that looks just like what is being produced from

petroleum and can fit into existing distribution systems. If you are trying to make an alternative

to gasoline, you are competing against $3 per gallon. That requires a long optimization process.

Our process will be competitive with $25 per gallon in a much shorter time," said Peralta-Yahya

from Georgia Tech.

"Even though we are still in the milligrams per litre level, because the product we are trying to

make is so much more expensive than diesel or gasoline means that we are relatively closer," she

said.

While much research has gone into producing ethanol and bio-diesel fuels comparatively little

work has been done on replacements for the high-energy JP-10. The scientists therefore set out to

improve on previous efforts by studying alternative enzymes that could be inserted into the E coli

bacterium.

They settled on two classes of enzymes - three pinene synthases and three geranyl diphosphate

synthases- and experimented to see which combinations produced the best results.

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Mankind has tapped only about one percent of the Total Energy available onthe earth.

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technology is paving the way for the future Agree (0)

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Biology is now bigger than physics, as measured by the size of budgets, bythe size of the workforce, or by the output of major discoveries; and biology islikely to remain the biggest part of science through the coming century.

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Hope it will materialize in near future for it is the need of the time to replacepetroleum a nonrenewable source of energy which is getting exhausted in afast phase.

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Oh My Rajnikant,,,,,,,,,,, Agree (0)

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Oh My Rajnikant Agree (0)

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Researchers have to speed up finding alternative fuel, lest the futuregenerstion go back to the bullock cart age

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sahi hai.. Agree (0)

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We got a replacement for energy...hope it will work in a great way.. Agree (0)

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Let us hope that such type of research work will materialize quickly Agree (0)

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In the pursuit of looking for alternatives and substitutes, man is movingclosure to and taking the whole life to the final destruction. With fire he hasmade many towards this end, now with bacterium! God is not going to curseor destroy this beautiful planet, that work is entrusted to the same man whoboasts always the wonder he has done on the surface of this earth. Godexists or not, destruction work always is man made could be seen if lookingback in to the days from day one. His own creation will destroy him, we aremoving closure to that final day?

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in order to survive everything has to evolve , one cant survive by beingstagnant as transition is nature's law

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Currently we have environmentally disastrous oil-spills - just imagine a spill ofthese engineered living bacteria !

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very promising article Agree (0)

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very good informative article Agree (0)

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Still under primary face, lets see how much it can be fruitful and what couldbe the side effects

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its a great if we can find oil alternative within the existing natual resources onearth thumbs up to them

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hmm interesting finding hope this helps. Agree (0)

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Now this is called science for civilization... Agree (0)

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Now it is the bacteria's turn to respond. I wonder what will it do. Agree (0)

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This finding may lower the War of Power by FUEL DOMINATINGCOUNTRIES on the rest of the World.

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This fuel will be more effective than the fossil fuels which we use now. Agree (0)

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A very hopeful study Agree (0)

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That is a future saving fuel! ! Agree (1)

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I think this new avenue could be the possible step to save our naturalresource of petrol, fuel and diesel.

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