Fungus makes biodiesel efficiently; also kills insects

Supporting vibramycin order a child's healthy development with omega-3s can start before a buy viagra cheap baby is born and continue while the child is in asacol for order infancy. Auditory brainstem implantAn auditory brainstem implant may be an atrovent for sale appropriate choice for a person who has experienced trauma to buy generic viagra best price their auditory nerve. The NIDDK explains that some medications can buy diflucan make people constipated, which can cause stools that are difficult levitra purchase low free price to pass or get stuck during bowel movements. Call your sale discount remeron doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction to buy celexa low cost pharmacy Pemazyre, as the reaction could become severe. Dosage for hypothyroidismDoctors cephalexin online pharmacy may prescribe Armour Thyroid to treat certain forms of hypothyroidism. The.

fungusbiodiesel.png

Chemical engineers over at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology have found an interesting way to process biodiesel more efficiently by using enzymes naturally produced by a fungus as a catalyst for the reaction.

Typically, biodiesel is made by mixing methanol with lye and vegetable oil and then heating the brew for several hours. This links the methanol to the oils to produce energetic called esters. Unfortunately, heating the mixture is a huge waste of energy, and a major selling point of alternative fuels is efficiency. An enzyme called lipase can link link oil to methanol without any extra heating, but the pure protein is expensive.

Potumarthi has a simple solution. Why bother purifying the lipase? It would be easier to just find an organism that produces plenty of the enzyme and squish it into pellets. In this case, the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae does the trick.

fungus_campanotus.jpg

Metarhizium anisopliae is also considered an entomopathogenic fungus which is a parasitic fungus that kills insects by germinating in the insect’s cuticle, growing into its body cavity and releasing fungal toxins. The fungi in some cases causes the insect to become delirious before it kills it and takes over the insect’s body with spores. Some of you may remember this sick clip below from BBC’s Planet Earth (warning, if you have not seen this, it will blow your mind):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3t4v8PmY_Q[/youtube]

Entomopathogenic fungi have been researched and used as biological insecticides in several regions around the world such as Asia and Africa to help with insect infestations.

I am all about using natural means to deal with pest problems, especially in regions where the pests create massive public heath epidemics. I am also all about developing more efficient ways to process biofuels. But does it make sense to mass produce this entomopathogenic fungi (and it would have to be massively produced to meet the current biodiesel production rates) that could potentially infect innocent insect bystanders? This I am not so sure of. Am I being paranoid? Perhaps I am just traumatized by the Planet Earth video.

[WIRED SCIENCE; neurophilosophy@scienceblogs]

3 thoughts on “Fungus makes biodiesel efficiently; also kills insects

  1. At the point at which we are worried about protecting Ant populations at the cost of the planet becoming unlivable haven’t we lost any sense of priority? All options for producing energy come with some sort of cost. Wind Turbines kill birds, hydro-electric damns can interfere with the ability of certain fish populations to spawn. What we always have to way is the cost versus the benefit. When we consider that Ant populations will naturally expand to the limit of their food supply. Any possible ill effects would be canceled out after a few weeks. Especially when you realize a fungus like this will only spread easily in a place with dense populations of insects such as a rain forest. Not a big threat in a place like a lab in say IOWA. Unless we think ANTS have an inherent right to life this is nothing but a great plan. Plus how cool would it be to work in this lab/factory? Watching this happen day after day.

  2. Ok, I totally dig the idea of using this fungus to produce the bonding agent (enzyme), but how are you extracting and/or purifying your enzyme? Using fungus pellets would get the enzyme into the solution but it would add impurities to it, would it not? So finding a way to purify the enzyme would be the most beneficial/economical way to produce biodiesel.

  3. I am all about using natural means to deal with pest problems, especially in regions where the pests create massive public heath epidemics. I am also all about developing more efficient ways to process biofuels.
    lost tattoo piercing kadıköy/istanbul

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>