Biotech Company to Patent Fuel-Secreting Bacterium

NY Times ^ | September 13, 2010 | MATTHEW L. WALD

[neverdem]

A biotech company plans to announce Tuesday that it has won a patent on a genetically altered bacterium that converts sunlight and carbon dioxide into ingredients of diesel fuel, a step that could provide a new pathway for making ethanol or a diesel replacement that skips several cumbersome and expensive steps in existing methods.

The bacterium’s product, which it secretes like sweat, is a class of hydrocarbon molecules called alkanes that are chemically indistinguishable from the ones made in oil refineries. The organism can grow in bodies of water unfit for drinking or on land that is useless for farming, according to the company, Joule Unlimited of Cambridge, Mass.

“We make very clean, sulfur-free hydrocarbons that drop directly into the existing infrastructure for the production of diesel fuel,” said William J. Sims, the chief executive of Joule. The object, he said, was not to be an alternative for fossil fuels, but “to become a viable replacement.”

Joule said it was the first company to patent an organism that secretes hydrocarbon fuel made continuously, directly from sunlight. Other companies, including Amyris Biotechnologies of Emeryville, Calif., and LS9 of San Carlos, Calif., are working on organisms that will make fuel if fed...

--snip--

Alternative energy experts agree that photosynthesis is a promising avenue for biofuel research. The challenge is turning the resulting product into a fuel. Many companies are trying to develop an algae to do that job. But it requires energy to separate the algae from the water and then process the oil they make internally into a usable fuel. An organism that secretes the desired product directly avoids both problems.

In a test in Leander, Tex., Joule’s bacteria strain produced ethanol. Different variants can also make polymers and other high-value chemicals that are ordinarily derived from petroleum, according to Joule...

[Rinnwald]

What if the bacteria escaped and started turning everything to oil, everywhere.

[BenKenobi]

Don’t see why not.

[dangerdoc]

You would have a flammable smelly oil slick in your back yard. I hope they have an off switch.

[allmendream]

Flagship Venture Labs? Does Dr. Venture work there doing SUPER science?

[guitarplayer1953]

nobody should profit from a “necessity” like energy

the government already makes a profit of oil by taxation and leasing and import duties it will not give up this golden goose.

[dangerdoc]

“nobody should profit from a “necessity” like energy”

I certainly hope you meant the government should not profit from energy. If there were no profit in energy production, who would provide it?

[guitarplayer1953]

I was quoting from a previous poster and mentioned that the government make a profit off it right now.

[SunkenCiv]

I secrete fuel, just no one wants it. Go figure. ;’)

Thanks E.

[Marine_Uncle]

Of course the greenies driven by their far left socialist agendas not advertised to the public that support them will do everything in their power to limit available lands where it is deemed appropriate to construct the millions of acres of units that would be required to say produce just enough stock that then can be converted into say jet fuel to fuel the US commercial fleets.
Bear in mind that a Boeing 747 jet holds a massive amount of fuel. While there are many different series of Boeing 747 jets, the maximum fuel capacity ranges from 48,455 to 64,225 U.S. gallons.
Granted that is the extreme. But do the math. How many flights per year does one 747 on average fly. I don't know what the total fuel consumption per year by all commercial jet traffic consumes but I think it is fair to say, it would take one hell of a lot of land set aside for these units to achieve parity just on this one fuel demand.
We are talking about millions of acres dedicated to this one particular company. How do they wheel and deal to purchase such huge tracts of land with no fights.
The basic idea is great. And they obviously have some pilot plants that prove the technology is feasible. I do wish them success. It is just hard to see it as some fix to our fossil fuel needs.
What this company needs is huge investment by those in power whether they be oil/gas companies or private investors, and large banks etc., to perhaps make it a partial reality.
But NO. I don't want to subsidize it with tax payer monies like so many of the now failing wind turbine and solar projects within the EU.
And that is where I fear it will lead. We shall see.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Trying to learn more about Flagship Venture labs...found this:

Joule Patents Secret Sauce for Diesel-Excreting Organisms

***************************EXCERPT***************************

Joule Unlimited promises it can genetically engineer an organism that eats CO2 and produces a drop-in diesel fuel. On Tuesday the company announced that it has landed a patent on its “recombinant biosynthesis” technology, putting it on track to commercialize a feedstock-free process it says can churn out “diesel-range hydrocarbons” for $30 a barrel.

U.S. Patent #7,794,969, AKA “Methods and Compositions for the Recombinant Biosynthesis of n-Alkanes,” covers the Cambridge, Mass.-based startup’s process to engineer “photosynthetic microorganisms for the direct synthesis of diesel molecules.” While other biofuel startups are using genetically engineered organisms to convert  sugar into drop-in fuels (see Amyris and Solazyme for examples), Joule says its organisms need only sunlight, water and carbon dioxide — a fact that’s key to its low-cost claims.

Joule’s “helioculture” systems — glass containers of algae and water laid out in a manner similar to solar panels, with pipes to take the resulting biofuel to storage tanks — are meant to be modular and scalable, CEO Bill Sims told us last year. Unlike many other algae biofuel efforts that rely on harvesting and processing the algae to make fuel or other products, Joule’s microorganisms keep pumping out fuel in a continuous process. Craig Venter’s startup Synthetic Genomics is working on engineering algae to do someting similar, and has a $300 million research project underway with oil giant ExxonMobil.

Joule’s pilot project in Leander, Texas is now producing ethanol, rather than diesel, and can produce up to 10,000 gallons per acre per year, though Joule said it’s shooting for 15,000 gallons per acre. As for its diesel product, Joule plans to start pilot production by year’s end and open a commercial plant in 2012.

Joule raised a $30 million series B round in April, adding to the “substantially less than $50 million” CEO Bill Sims said the company had raised as of July 2009, when it came out of stealth. The company was founded in 2007 at the Flagship Venture Labs, an arm of Cambridge-based Flagship Ventures.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

AND:

http://www.flagshipventures.com/

[WKUHilltopper]

Thank you.

[Marine_Uncle]

And that was what I was basing my statements on after reading the three tier section at their site. 15K gal per acre avg.. Perhaps keeping it at $30/gal..
With that. I will shortly taking a shower then off to work. Have a great upcoming day.

[Reeses]

it would take one hell of a lot of land set aside for these units to achieve parity just on this one fuel demand. We are talking about millions of acres dedicated to this one particular company. How do they wheel and deal to purchase such huge tracts of land with no fights.

Saltwater algae floats, oil bacteria probably would also. The solution to the land problem is use the open ocean. An added benefit is there are much fewer clouds offshore boosting production. The entire petroleum industry could be replaced by using less than 2% of the ocean surface. The land, water, and sunshine are vast and free.

[DrC]

“the government already makes a profit of oil by taxation and leasing and import duties it will not give up this golden goose.”

I didn’t saying progressives were logically consistent. I’m just saying that their irrational opposition to private sector profits likely would make them skeptical of even “green” ways to create energy. Hence, the only way they could rationalize it to themselves is if it were government-controlled.

Hypocisy is an enduring feature of progressivism: private monopolies=bad; public monopolies=good. Private profits=bad; public taxes=good. When evil private tobacco companies sell cigarettes, they are “exploiting” helpless smokers, but when government taxes those very same smokers, it is “helping” them by increasing their incentive to stop smoking.

It’s ironic that whenever gasoline prices go haywire, politicians are the first to point fingers at greedy oil companies, but I have NEVER seen in such circumstances politicians offering to lower gasoline taxes to alleviate the burden on consumers. Tobacco taxes, oil taxes: there’s a very long list of “golden gooses” on which politicians are all too happy to feed.

[Marine_Uncle]

Your reply was quite reasonable. But we must take into account these operations are based on as you can see in the pictures, heavy use of huge solar panel arrays, large holding tanks, mixing tanks, other equipment. One would have to use huge floating platforms anchored off shore like oil rigs, but much larger most likely to make it at all useful. Think of one square acre as 208 feet by 208 feet. The tens of thousands of platforms must be connected to underwater pipelines that would send the product(s) to shore facilities for either carting away to refineries and or refined into final fractions on site, eg. oil refinery cracking towers, hydroforming etc..
It would be interesting to see some studies on what areas would benefit the most from adequate amounts of sunshine, little cloud coverage, little storm surge etc..
Perhaps this is all in the works. I of course just touch on a few of the more obvious things that must be fully proven in to make it a cost effective operation. But like I said to Ernest. I am for such operations if they do not use tax dollars to subsidize them.

[Reeses]

I am for such operations if they do not use tax dollars to subsidize them.

One exception: our military, which is the largest single user of fuel in the world. Most leaps in technology are funded by military spending on new, more effeicient methods of killing annoying people. That's because initially only the military can afford the price tag, and then the price drops. When integrated circuits were first invented they cost $1,000 each. Only military orders for use in missiles allowed the factories to be built. Today entire systems on a chip can be bought for pennies. That said, the replacement for petroleum won't happen on Obama's watch. He's defunding the military to buy Chinese windmills, solar boondoggles, and putting more people on food stamps.

[neverdem]

Thanks for the comment, pic & links!

[Marine_Uncle]

You made some good points.

[itsahoot]

Maybe the bacteria already existed, and they just discovered it :)