Solar energy becomes biofuel without solar cells

Solar energy becomes biofuel without solar cells

Soon we will be able to replace fossil fuels with solar energy, carbon dioxide, and water-carbon-neutral products. 

Researchers at Uppsala University have successfully produced micro-organisms that can efficiently produce alcohol butanol without the need to use solar cells by using carbon dioxide and solar energy.

This scientific journal has been presented in a new study published in Energy and Environmental Science.

- We have prepared a series of systematic cyanobacteria and gradually produced a growing amount of butenol indirect processes.

 When the best cells are used in long-term laboratory experiments, then we see the level of production which is higher than the levels reported in the current articles. 

In addition, it is comparable with indirect processes where bacteria is fed with sugar, says Pia Lindberg, Department of Chemical Engineering atngström, senior lecturer at Uppsala University.

Knowledge and the ability to modify cyanobacteria, therefore, they can produce different types of chemicals with carbon dioxide and are emerging in parallel with progress in solar energy technology, synthetic biology, they are changing genetically. 

Through the technological development, systematic methods and through the discovery that the more products are extracted from the cyanobacteria, the more Buttonanol is formed, the study shows the path forward to realizing the concept.

We already know that it is possible to produce butenol by using this process (proof-of-concept). Now the researchers who are able to show that it is possible to get higher yields, so much that it is possible to use in production. 

In practical terms, Butanol can be used as an eco-friendly component for the environment-friendly vehicle fuel in the automotive industry - fourth-generation biofuels - and rubber for tires. In both cases, fossil fuels are replaced by solar energy, carbon dioxide and carbon-neutral products made from water.

Even big trades in all trades, which currently produce high greenhouse gas emissions from carbon dioxide, will be able to use the process with cyanobacteria to bind carbon dioxide and will result in significantly reduced their emissions.

Microscopic cyanobacteria are the most efficient photosynthetic organisms on Earth. In this study, we use their ability to efficiently capture the energy of the sun and to bind carbon dioxide in the air, as well as with all the tools to modify the cyanobacteria to produce desirable products.

 Results show that the direct production of carbon-neutral chemicals and fuel from solar energy will be a possibility in the future, Professor Peter Lindblad explains in the Department of Chemical Engineering strngström laboratory at Uppsala University, who led the project.

Research at Uppsala University is part of the large EU Photofuel project being coordinated by vehicle manufacturer VW, which aims to develop the next generation of technologies for the sustainable construction of alternative fuels in the transportation sector.