http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/science/earth/14fuel.html?_r=1&ref=earth
It will be announced this Tuesday that a biotech company has won a patent on an important advancement in the production of fuels. This new genetically altered bacterium can convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into vital components of diesel fuel. This could possibly provide a new way to create ethanol or even a diesel replacement. This form of bacteria can irreversibly alter the way in which we produce energy today. The bacterium secretes a class of hydrocarbon molecules called alkanes that are chemically identical to those created in oil refineries. They can even grow practically anywhere, including bodies of water that are unfit to drink or un-farmable land. Making the production cleaner. The organism is a cyanobacterium, more commonly known as blue-green algae. Although it is not technically an alga, it still produces the fuel using photosynthesis.
This greatly affects humanity because it ultimately affects energy. Chemistry deals with the production of energy. These fuels are amongst some of the most commonly utilized products in the world used to produce it. They are necessities for a large spectrum of things from cars and heating, to war. If scientists were able to make a quicker and cleaner way to produce these substances, one could avoid the cumbersome process of refineries by eliminating various steps. It also leads humanity one step closer in creating hybrid forms of fuel.
I found this article very informative and important. Staying updating on important subjects such as these is crucial in becoming an informed citizen. It allows one to understand the upcoming technology and how it might affect them. Particularly a topic like this, which has such a large impact on daily life. It is imperative that people remain informed on such topics. Through science research such as this, we are arriving one step closer in winning the battle for cleaner, cheaper, and more efficient forms of energy that can revolutionize the way we live.
Review submitted by N. Malik
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4 comments:
Claudia Nagy
Response to :FUEL PRODUCTION PATENT AWARDED TO BIOTECH COMPANY
This review is detailed and informative explaining why the newly patented genetically altered bacterium is important to the improvement of biofuel. The review explained how the new bacteria was better than ethanol on most levels, and how it converted sunlight and carbon dioxide into crucial components of diesel fuel well, explaining the science in lay man's terms. The review also pointed out how the new bacteria would use resources deemed unfit for human use (dirty water, un-farmable land) well, proving that this up and coming bacteria is more green than ethanol in all respects. The review also explains how this bacteria will affect clean energy with great detail, noting that the fuel harvested will lead to new hybrid forms of fuel.
To improve the review, it would have been informative to have noted that the elements needed to facilitate the bacteria's growth can be recycled from human waste. CO2 can be harvested from factory waste and used to grow this new algae, aiding in reducing CO2 levels in the air while creating a more eco friendly bio fuel. It also would have been helpful to note that there have been previous attempts to create such a bacteria that would aid in a new biofuel that have been less successful. This would have made the news of a such a successful bacteria's patent more significant.
This article shed light on to the fact that new bio fuels are being created, slowly but surely. It also proves that genetic modifications aren't all bad, and that they can lead to break throughs in science which benefit society as a whole, like creating an eco friendly bio-fuel. This is reassuring to a society that depends on a careful balance of politics and economics for foreign petroleum to fuel (ha!) every day life.
Showtime Chase O'Neill
I appreciate how you referenced more efficient war as a product of these algae as fuel. That is just a nice way to say people won’t don’t advance scientifically will die as we advance scientifically. I like how you said stated that the blue-green algae is similar to that of the oil refinery algae, saying it allows the reader to unconsciously connect the two in their minds. I also like how you stated one of the reasons why we study chemistry; it allowed me to be a more informed citizen on being an informed citizen.
I suggest you don’t say, “Chemistry deals with the production of energy,” anyone who is on a chemistry blog then they probably already know that, if they don’t then they are probably on the Jersey Shore (Take that Situation). I also don’t understand where you stated that we can win the battle for cleaner energy with these algae. I mean, who are we battling against?
I did learn that these algae can be used as an alternative energy source, a topic I normally don’t care about (Still don’t).
1. She explained very well how create a new way to create ethanol. She went into good detail and made it easy to understand.
2. She explains what the organism cyanobacterium, which is hard to understand from reading the article but Natasha does a great job.
3. Natasha sums up the article well in few words which makes it easy to read. She also reminds us at the end the ways we use these things in every day life lie with cars and war.
1. This review could have been even better if you went more into the every day aspects of how these ways of making energy are going to be used in our everyday life.
2. I think that you could go more into the facts about how we are battling algae. That didn’t make a lot of sense to me.
1. I found it very interesting that algae can be used as another way to produce energy if needed. I did not know this before and it sparked the intellectual thoughts in my brain.
1) I felt that Natasha, in her reflection, quickly and briefly got in all of the important information needed to really get the point of the article, which really made it enjoyable to read.
2) Natasha mentioned the new bacteria and what it is, but when she described the impact that it would have on our life today, I felt was very helpful.
3) She fully explains that the ethanol and oil is a necessity in everyone’s daily lives, either from the car or heating and many other uses in which we use on a daily basis.
1) I feel that the algae wasn’t explained thoroughly enough, so I didn’t understand about how the ethanol will be produced and where they will produce it, in breeding farms?
2) Also, Natasha could have talked more about how the new ethanol from the algae was more efficient and effective than the oil used in the world today.
1) I found the part about where the algae could grow very interesting because I have felt that building bacteria in labs and using them in the lab isn’t the cleanest and best way to observe and collect from the bacteria, which needs to be in an environment which is best suited for growth, but since the algae can grow anywhere its even easier to find.
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