Isolated bacteria – Micrococcus luteus (Photo credit: NEPMET)
Organisms may one day turn an electrical current into a rich source of organic compounds for biofuels.
The reason we’re hooked on oil, and its climate warming derivatives, is the astonishing amount of energy packed into every gallon of the stuff. Gasoline burns brighter compared to alternatives from ethanol to electricity whenever it’s stored in a tank or battery. But if we could make energy-dense liquids from electrons, the energetic sub-atomic particles driving an electrical current, we could begin weaning ourselves off fossil fuels, particularly in transportation.
Mariprofundus ferrooxydans PV-1, a little bacteria from the ocean, may be the microbe for the job. It feasts on the iron atoms dissolved in seawater, which makes it attractive to scientists who want to turn it into an electric factory for making biofuels. Here’s how it works: Most life on Earth depends on the sun to drive photosynthesis.
Plants use solar radiation to use and capture chemical energy, combining water and carbon dioxide to create sugars, carbohydrates, proteins, and other compounds. These are in turn eaten by other organisms higher up the food chain. A few rare classes of organisms actually feed directly on the energy in chemical bonds of the Earth’s minerals. By rearranging molecules, the microbes grab energy from the transfer of electrons among atoms. One group, known as lithoautotrophs, or “eaters of rock,” reduce mineral compounds to fuel their metabolism while driving massive geological processes such as rock weathering in the process.
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Energy-dense liquids from electrons
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The rest represents the so-called “dark universe” made up of mysterious dark energy and ... When the electrons reach the top, they are pulled out of the liquid by a stronger electric field ...
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The LUX-ZEPLIN experiment is the world’s largest dark matter detector. It’s searching for a particular type of hypothetical dark matter particle, called Weakly Interacting Massive Particles.
- Neutron Scattering Data Provides Compelling Evidence of a Spiral Spin Liquid Phaseon July 28, 2022 at 6:10 am
Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory used neutron scattering to determine whether a specific material's atomic structure could host a novel state of matter called a ...
- Magnetic quantum material broadens platform for probing next-gen information technologieson July 26, 2022 at 5:00 pm
Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National ... textures that could advance high-density data storage. "Materials hosting spiral spin liquids are particularly exciting due to ...
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Fauve, who directs the cryoplant at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, points to a series of heat exchangers and compressors that cool helium to a liquid ... dense, high-energy plasmas that ...
- KIST Developed a core technology for Aqueous Zinc Batterieson July 24, 2022 at 5:00 pm
Succeeded in developing a technology for manufacturing “high-density zinc metal anodes,” which is key to commercializing AZIBs.
- Salt and a battery: smashing the limits of power storageon July 20, 2022 at 6:17 am
Thanks to the renewables’ boom, the limiting factor of the energy revolution ... the cathode – and a liquid called the electrolyte. When the battery discharges, electrons stream out of the ...
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- Electrons in alcohol – concerted molecule and charge motions at terahertz frequencieson July 10, 2022 at 5:00 pm
Light-induced ionization Light-induced ionization of polar liquids such as alcohols generates free electrons ... ps (1 ps = 10-12 s), by which it loses energy and eventually localizes at a ...
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Bacteria Eat Electricity And Make Fuel
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- Micro-Organisms Give Up The Volts In This Biological Batteryon August 2, 2022 at 5:00 pm
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- Electrical bacteria may help clean oil spills and curb methane emissionson August 1, 2022 at 10:12 am
The microbes are living wires: Their threadlike bodies — thinner than a human hair — can channel electricity ... the oil-eating microbes use as fuel. Meanwhile, the cable bacteria channel ...
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A study of 29 European lakes has found that some naturally-occurring lake bacteria grow faster and more efficiently on the remains of plastic bags than on natural matter like leaves and twigs.
- Woman hospitalized after suffering 15 spider bites, contracting flesh-eating bacteriaon July 25, 2022 at 10:55 am
Susi Feltch-Malohifo’ou has had more than 10 pounds of dead tissue removed and doctors are continuing to treat her, according to her son.
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As a nutritionist, Kristy recommends looking at what we eat ... of bacteria-containing foods that may help our gut microbiome, and prebiotics, which supply our existing bacteria with the fuel ...
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Should we all be eating ... electricity generation, along with the LED light, fuel the growth of the microalgae Chlorella and Nannochloropsis, along with a cyanobacterium – a type of bacteria ...
