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| TU-103 |
Tomorrow’s fuel can be obtained from yesterday’s newspaper.
Scientists of the Tulane University have discovered a strain of clostridia bacteria,”TU-103” that can consume old newspapers to produce butanol, a stand in for Gasoline.
Old publications of the Times Picayune, daily newspaper of New Orleans has been successfully used by the researchers to use this bacterium to produce butanol with the help of cellulose present in these papers, which is the structural material in plants.
It the first strain of bacteria which occur naturally and produce butanol directly from cellulose and also the only strain which can grow in the presence of oxygen. Keeping bacterial fermentation chambers air tight makes working with other strain more expensive.
“Now bio butanol can be produced at lower cost with the help of this discovery” said David Mullin, in whose lab this strain of bacteria was discovered.
“ Adding up to possible savings per gallon, bio butanol, as a fuel , produced from cellulose would dramatically reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and smog emissions in comparison to Gasoline, and will have a positive impact on landfill wastes.”, he later added.
This strain of bacteria can be made to produce brutanol from any source cellulose and not just newspapers. TU-103 was discovered from animal feces
Bio fuels from cellulose take an advantage over ethanol from corn and sugar cane. It doesn’t compete for crop land, as cellulose containing plants grow on places where other plants do not grow.
It is also superior to Ethanol in several other ways. It is less corrosive and can be used without modifying the engines. It also contains more amount of energy, so cars using butanol as fuel will not lose miles per gallon, as they lose with Ethanol and it also blends like E85.
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