Nottingham, United Kingdom
January 28, 2009
Fruit and veg may be good for you
but in 10 years time we could be replacing fossil fuels and
helping to save our planet by using the inedible bits that we
throw away to run our cars, boats and planes.
The University of
Nottingham is to lead the way in the development of
sustainable bioenergy fuels — Ethanol and Butanol. These
sustainable bioenergy fuels use non-food crops, such as willow,
industrial and agricultural waste products and inedible parts of
crops, such as straw, so do not take products out of the food
chain.
The University of Nottingham is leading two of six research
projects being run by the national £27m BBSRC Sustainable
Bioenergy Centre which was announced in London today — January
27 2009. This will be the biggest ever single UK public
investment in bioenergy research. The centre has been funded by
the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
(BBSRC).
Experts in microbiology and brewing science at The University of
Nottingham will be leading the two five-year research
programmes.
Katherine Smart, Professor of Brewing Science in the School of
Biosciences, and a world leading fermentation scientist, will
lead a team of researchers hoping to develop yeast capable of
breaking down plant cell walls. Scientists will then be able to
break down the inedible and unusable parts of plants such as the
skin and stalks to produce ethanol. They will be collaborating
with University of Bath, University of Surrey, BP, Bioethanol
Ltd, Briggs of Burton, British Sugar, Coors Brewers, DSM,
Ethanol Technology, HGCA, Pursuit Dynamics, SABMiller and
Scottish Whisky Research Institute.
Professor Katherine Smart said: “The government is committed to
producing replacement transport fuels. We can already buy petrol
with five per cent ethanol in it but this is imported and it is
important that Britain has strong energy security. Our fuel will
be produced through materials which currently end up in landfill
or simply go to waste. The challenge is to break down the
toughest part of the plant, unlock the sugars, and by developing
the very best yeast find an extremely efficient way of
converting these sugars into ethanol.”
The green tops of carrots, straw that is currently ploughed back
into the ground, wood shavings, the husks from barley grains,
even the stalks from grapes can be used to produce ethanol.
The bacteria that produce butanol belong to an ancient group of
bacteria called Clostridium.
Nigel Minton, a professor of Applied Molecular Microbiology, and
a world expert in the genetic modification of Clostridium
bacteria, will be developing a process for the large scale
production of butanol by developing microbes capable of
converting plant waste into this biofuel.
Butanol has significant advantages over ethanol. It has a higher
energy content, is easier to transport, can be blended with
petrol at much higher concentrations and even has potential for
use as an aviation fuel
Professor Minton said: “We really are focussed on the holy grail
of biofuel research — developing bacteria that are able to
convert non-food, plant cell wall material into a superior
petrol replacement, butanol. If you had asked me a couple of
years ago, I would have said it was not possible. However, my
team have now developed some world beating technologies which
will allow us to generate the Clostridium strains required.”
The research will be carried out in collaboration with Newcastle
University and TMO Renewables Ltd.
Researchers from across the scientific spectrum — chemists,
engineers, microbiologists, mathematicians and fermentation
scientists — will be involved in the two research programmes.
Minister of State for Science and Innovation, Lord Drayson,
said: "Investing £27 million in this new centre involves the
single biggest UK public investment in bioenergy research. The
centre is exactly the sort of initiative this country needs to
lead the way in transforming the exciting potential of
sustainable biofuels into a widespread technology that can
replace fossil fuels.
“The expertise and resources of The University of Nottingham
makes it well placed to make a valuable contribution to the new
BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre and help to make sustainable,
environmentally-friendly bioenergy a reality."
The £27m BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre has been launched to
provide the science to underpin and develop the important and
emerging UK sustainable bioenergy sector.
The BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre is focussed on six
research hubs of academic and industrial partners, based at each
of the Universities of Cambridge, Dundee and York and Rothamsted
Research and two at The University of Nottingham. Another seven
universities and institutes are involved and 15 industrial
partners across the hubs are contributing around £7m of the
funding.
The Centre’s research activities will encompass many different
stages of bioenergy production, from widening the range of
materials that can be the starting point for bioenergy to
improving the crops used by making them grow more efficiently to
changing plant cell walls. The Centre will also analyse the
complete economic and environmental life cycle of potential
sources of bioenergy.
Currently the fuels we use to provide electricity or to run cars
and other vehicles is derived from coal, oil and gas. Their use
is a major contributor to global warming through the production
of carbon dioxide. And it is projected that in 50 years time
these fossil fuels will be exhausted. So the search is on to
find more environmentally friendly and renewable systems for
producing liquid fuels to run cars and other vehicles. |
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