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From The Times
June 14, 2008
Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol
Silicon Valley is experimenting with bacteria that have been genetically altered to provide 'renewable petroleum'
“Ten years ago I could never have imagined I’d be doing this,” says Greg Pal, 33, a former software executive, as he squints into the late afternoon Californian sun. “I mean, this is essentially agriculture, right? But the people I talk to – especially the ones coming out of business school – this is the one hot area everyone wants to get into.”
He means bugs. To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs – very, very small ones – so that when they feed on agricultural waste such as woodchips or wheat straw, they do something extraordinary. They excrete crude oil.
Unbelievably, this is not science fiction. Mr Pal holds up a small beaker of bug excretion that could, theoretically, be poured into the tank of the giant Lexus SUV next to us. Not that Mr Pal is willing to risk it just yet. He gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls “renewable petroleum”. After that, he grins, “it’s a brave new world”.
Mr Pal is a senior director of LS9, one of several companies in or near Silicon Valley that have spurned traditional high-tech activities such as software and networking and embarked instead on an extraordinary race to make $140-a-barrel oil (£70) from Saudi Arabia obsolete. “All of us here – everyone in this company and in this industry, are aware of the urgency,” Mr Pal says.
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What is most remarkable about what they are doing is that instead of trying to reengineer the global economy – as is required, for example, for the use of hydrogen fuel – they are trying to make a product that is interchangeable with oil. The company claims that this “Oil 2.0” will not only be renewable but also carbon negative – meaning that the carbon it emits will be less than that sucked from the atmosphere by the raw materials from which it is made.
LS9 has already convinced one oil industry veteran of its plan: Bob Walsh, 50, who now serves as the firm’s president after a 26-year career at Shell, most recently running European supply operations in London. “How many times in your life do you get the opportunity to grow a multi-billion-dollar company?” he asks. It is a bold statement from a man who works in a glorified cubicle in a San Francisco industrial estate for a company that describes itself as being “prerevenue”.
Inside LS9’s cluttered laboratory – funded by $20 million of start-up capital from investors including Vinod Khosla, the Indian-American entrepreneur who co-founded Sun Micro-systems – Mr Pal explains that LS9’s bugs are single-cell organisms, each a fraction of a billionth the size of an ant. They start out as industrial yeast or nonpathogenic strains of E. coli, but LS9 modifies them by custom-de-signing their DNA. “Five to seven years ago, that process would have taken months and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he says. “Now it can take weeks and cost maybe $20,000.”
Because crude oil (which can be refined into other products, such as petroleum or jet fuel) is only a few molecular stages removed from the fatty acids normally excreted by yeast or E. coli during fermentation, it does not take much fiddling to get the desired result.
For fermentation to take place you need raw material, or feedstock, as it is known in the biofuels industry. Anything will do as long as it can be broken down into sugars, with the byproduct ideally burnt to produce electricity to run the plant.
The company is not interested in using corn as feedstock, given the much-publicised problems created by using food crops for fuel, such as the tortilla inflation that recently caused food riots in Mexico City. Instead, different types of agricultural waste will be used according to whatever makes sense for the local climate and economy: wheat straw in California, for example, or woodchips in the South.
Using genetically modified bugs for fermentation is essentially the same as using natural bacteria to produce ethanol, although the energy-intensive final process of distillation is virtually eliminated because the bugs excrete a substance that is almost pump-ready.
The closest that LS9 has come to mass production is a 1,000-litre fermenting machine, which looks like a large stainless-steel jar, next to a wardrobe-sized computer connected by a tangle of cables and tubes. It has not yet been plugged in. The machine produces the equivalent of one barrel a week and takes up 40 sq ft of floor space.
However, to substitute America’s weekly oil consumption of 143 million barrels, you would need a facility that covered about 205 square miles, an area roughly the size of Chicago.
That is the main problem: although LS9 can produce its bug fuel in laboratory beakers, it has no idea whether it will be able produce the same results on a nationwide or even global scale.
“Our plan is to have a demonstration-scale plant operational by 2010 and, in parallel, we’ll be working on the design and construction of a commercial-scale facility to open in 2011,” says Mr Pal, adding that if LS9 used Brazilian sugar cane as its feedstock, its fuel would probably cost about $50 a barrel.
Are Americans ready to be putting genetically modified bug excretion in their cars? “It’s not the same as with food,” Mr Pal says. “We’re putting these bacteria in a very isolated container: their entire universe is in that tank. When we’re done with them, they’re destroyed.”
Besides, he says, there is greater good being served. “I have two children, and climate change is something that they are going to face. The energy crisis is something that they are going to face. We have a collective responsibility to do this.”
Power points
— Google has set up an initiative to develop electricity from cheap renewable energy sources
— Craig Venter, who mapped the human genome, has created a company to create hydrogen and ethanol from genetically engineered bugs
— The US Energy and Agriculture Departments said in 2005 that there was land available to produce enough biomass (nonedible plant parts) to replace 30 per cent of current liquid transport fuels
Well, im very glad to hear that were trying to find alternative fuels and break away from the Arab control of oil, but, isnt it unethical to create something just to use it then destroy it? Doesn't seem very ethical to me. I was all for I untill i saw "There destroyed when there done."
Joey, Louisville, USA
These are man-made bugs right? So, What is the man-made predator to the waste eating bugs? In nature there is a circle of life. Everything has its predator that eats it and keeps it in check. What keeps these bugs in check? What if they escape and they get into our food chain and eat our food?
Jeanne, SAN LUIS OBISPO,
These are man-made bugs right? So, What is the man-made predator to the waste eating bugs? In nature there is a circle of life. Everything has its predator that eats it and keeps it in check. What keeps these bugs in check? What if they escape and they get into our food chain and eat our food?
Jeanne, SAN LUIS OBISPO, USA
I think the average American would be more responsible if they could use things they would normally through away but instead use that material to be processing into feul. I agree we should each have one of these little labs and produce our own feul. Would solve several problems all at once. Too cool
Dan, Raleigh,
That is really cool....But y can't they make bacteria producing petrol or diesel rt away.. then we can have separate tanks for that..
Rohit, Mangalore, India
Heres an idea to solve the floorspace problem -
Invent household units that people can run from their own food compost and lawn waste,so that the units are not in one factory, but distributed in households across america.
JOseph, Portland,
Instead of using it for direct power production, why not continue creating ethenes and hydrogen with this oil? That will leave some of the larger industries intact (plastics for instance) whilst the power inustry can begin to use alternatives to fuel, such as the hydrogen - also from this oil.
Tom Balcombe , Hereford, England
Jim, how will our non CO2 burning hydrogen engine be fueled? Hydrogen for fuel cells is currently produced by the most efficient method, stripping hydrocarbons such as natural gas of thier H. Electrolysis of water you say? By what means will you produce the electricity! Nuclear? or Oil plants?
Michael, albany, USA
To Jim Bendfeldt
the big difference between burning this oil and burning pumped oil is that the carbon from this oil came from atmospheric CO2 and not already sequestered carbon. There would still be "polution" and smog but the net amount of CO2 would stay the same.
James, Tulsa,
To David Hayes: Unfortunately any oil generated by this bacteria will still be burnt up by the infernal combustion engine, pumping more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
It's time that more of our resources went into the development and commercialisation of non-CO2 generating hydrogen engine.
Jim Bendfeldt, Sydney, Australia
The question is: given the same amount of organic waste, does this process produce more energy (unde the form of petroleum) than an anaerobic digestor (under the form of biogas)?
If not, then it's a dead end. And if it's comparable, the anaerobic digestor still wins for it produces compost too!
Fabio A., Naples, Italy
Hey,
I agree with John, get the home kit ready to go. I cut my grass twice a week, 4 or 5 bags of grass at a time. Brew my own gas, fantastic!! Although this technology is in its infancy, it seems to be promising.
Mooch, Levittown, United States
Sounds too good to be true. Wow! But what happens if the bacteria get loose due to equipment failure, earthquake or other natural disaster? Could they overrun the countryside, turning all in its path to oil?
Terry, Pompano Beach, USA
How many tons of grass clippings are dumped and allowed to rot every Summer day? Fallen leafs in the Fall? Bio-matter pulled out of sewage at treatment plants daily?!?
There's plenty of garbage that I'm guessing could be fed into these bugs...
Philly Physics Guy, Philadelphia, United States of America
Maybe this could be applied on a smaller scale where individuals could have a unit at home which can produce 50-100 gallons at a time and use grass clippings. Similar to a compost pile.
John, Boynton Beach,FL, USA
Whenever someone comes up with something genetically modified and helpful to humans, why do we consider it playing god? This uses preexisting materials, and isn't god supposed to have made everything from nothing?
Scott, Ottawa,
webster tarpley? good lord
chris , denton, texas,
Engineers can convert any energy into any other (with loses). The problem with these schemes is we don't make enough trash and can't grow enough biomass to replace oil much less coal. Power satellites get around most solar power problems. So I am working on a lower cost way to lift parts to GEO.
Keith Henson, Prescott, AZ, USA
Dr. Thomas Gold wrote all about this in "The Deep Hot Biosphere."
See: <http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=49434>
Henry Barth, Dublin, Ireland
Now, if they can just genetically engineer a bacteria that eats liberal good intentions and climate change hysteria, and excretes beneficial results and practical solutions...
Brian, Dallas Texas,
I'll wait to get excited until they burn it in a combustible engine. I still laugh when someone mentions the electric car. Hello? Where do you think that electricity comes from? The magical wall outlet? No, it comes from a power plant that more than likely uses coil or oil to produce electricity.
Joshua, Fort Worth, USA
This will be a world changing discovery.
A renewable source of crude oil means every nation can become energy independent. More important than anything every world nation must not allow itself to be dependent on other nations to provide our basic livelyhood (Food, Energy, Finance.)
Imagine a world where the poorest of the poor have lighting 24 hours a day. This smiple scientific discovery will significantly raise the standard of living for billions of people.
It won't help the longterm pollution issue but I bet they can get the bugs to excrete something with no pollutants. Everyone can drive anytime if we had renewable gas that never polluted.
I offer to donate 500 acres of land in Florida to create the first plant to generate this Bio-Fuel.
Somebody Call Me!
David Hayes, Delray Beach, USA
Love it. but it won't happen unless "they" make a lot of money out of it.... but if a non profit Manhattan project could develop this, I suggest planting thousand of acres of Kudzu next to the bug\oil plant(s)
Jay B., Forked River, usa
I just love how we keep trying to play God. Something just doesn't seem right here.
Susie Smith, Williamsburg,
Why dont they locate these plants next to rubbish / waste collection centres? This will solve the problem in locating new rubbish collection centres once they fill up. Talk about solving our rubbish problems and fuel / energy problems in one go.
Kon , Melbourne , Australia
the problem with Hydrogen vehicles is the byproduct is water vapor. Anyone who's taken a single university level biology class knows that water vapor is the single most efficient atmospheric element at trapping heat. World temps plummeted this year due to the sunspots receding. Patience is a virtue.
Manny, Los Angeles, USA
205 square miles divided by 50 states works out to roughly 4.1 square miles used to produce fuel self suffeciency. If every state had one or two sites where fuel was being produced or small states shared one site distribution would not be a problem you don't want ot put all your eggs in 1 basket.
James R Holt, Huntington, USA
These really aren't bugs. They're Single Celled Organisms. Genetically modifying a Single Celled organism to produce Oil as it's " Waste ", and gain to us, in my opinion is an genius idea. Our Economy is based on oil. Do you realize what it would take to change that? Just my 2 cents.
Joe, Saugus,
I believe that we need to continue focusing on non-petroleum type fuels. The environment is more important than our wallets. And Shannon, hydrogen-powered cars are not hydrogen bombs. Look up some of the mechanics behind hydrogen power. If a hydrogen bomb was that easy to make, we'd be dead already.
Devin Cofer, Fairport, USA
Are any of you aware of the electric car? This car was first built in 1996 by GMC. It ran almost 160 plus miles, off of one charge! No emission's were produced and the only upkeep it required was washer fluid, tire changes etc. IT NEEDED NO OIL,NO GAS,RAN OFF THE EQUIVALENT OF 60 CENTS A GALLON!!!
Jay McAdams , Arkansas, usa
“Our plan is to have a demonstration-scale plant operational by 2010.." by 2010, car companies are supposed to stop production on cars that rely on petrol/fossil fuel.. and Hydrogen cars? cool yeah, until you crash. then you realize your driving a hydrogen bomb.
Shannon, Shelton, WA
So these 'bugs' will produce enough petrol to save our fuel starved planet by continuing or increasing emissions that are warming the planet and polluting our air ? Isn't the point of "re-engineering the economy" away from petrol enviromental as well as economic?
Bruce Ree, LA, USA
205 square miles? Surely we can spare that much wasteland in return for total energy independence. Forget Anwar, how about the Mojave Desert?
bleezoid, fleekoj, USA
Uh...Greg Pal, 33, you sound like a smart dude, but apparently you have never read "Brave New World" or you wouldn't be using the term to celebrate your success. (Pst: It means something real bad.)
HowToWriteComedy.com
Joseph C. Cavella, Los Angeles, LA
John Chuckman. Bacteria and Yeasts are not plants.
Bacteria are prokaryotes
Yeasts are fungi.
Martyn, Walsall, UK
Continue working on all the new/different forms of energy, Solar, Wind, Water, etc, that can reduce pollution. But if this "bug" that makes oil can work out, why not build the plants near by major cities sewage plants. Let the little bugs eat our waste and give us GAS! Isn't Poop ready for the bugs?
ML Davidson, Denton,Tx,, USA
All these prophets of doom seem to have missed the law of conservation of energy. For this organism to produce oil from sugars, it would have to devote a huge portion of its total energy intake into the final product, oil. As such, they're hardly apt creatures and wouldn't survive long in the wild.
Scott KL, Los Angeles, USA
Carbon negative? When the energy to plant, fertilize, harvest and transport the Brazilian sugar or other substrate for these GM bacteria to act on is factored in to the equation, the entre process is more likely to be a net carbon producer. Also true for biofuels in general. No free carbon lunch.
Warren , Cambridge, UK
Environmentalists don't understand economics. And if they do they are anti-American.
William, Renton, USA
This is insane. Imagine all the bugs that will fly loose into the world, reproducing and reproducing, until our world is covered in traces of crude oil. That's a major health hazard. For the love of God don't do it. Nothing in nature will be able to stomach the bug and keep it in check.
amber, fremont, usa
The title of the article needs to switch the word "find" to "genetically modify" otherwise it is misleading.
Jessica, East Hampton,
Sounds like "Ice 9" to me. Hmmm. "Oil 9."
diane, Los Angeles, USA
if this scheme works out then OPEC is on borrowed time!
gregory, Antrim, Northern Ireland
God help us if this bug gets out into the natural world and adapts, green areas could be turned into oil slicks!
<br/>just find an alternative, oh there is one already hydrogen fuel sells.
<br/>
John Godfrey, Cornwall, England
This is a potentially ground-breaking discovery, with added emphasis on "potentially". It is exciting, but like many other "scientific breakthroughs" in their infant stages, I'd rather not get my hopes up. When I see the bugs making barrels instead of vials of oil, I'll take notice.
Matt, Des Moines,
Mike from Phoenix: Why do you think they call petroleum a fossil fuel?
Michael, Brentwood, CA, US
Suppose some of these bugs mysteriously got out of the laboratory and into the environment. Would they not continue to behave in a similar fashion outside the petrie dish? So now everything around them would slowly be converted to oil. How is this scenario "environmentally friendly"?
Kenneth J Hueston, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
"Unless we can convince 3rd world populations to not have children..." Mr. MacPherson: you shouldn't have kids! 1st world individuals consume 36 times their 3rd world counterparts. 36 times! 1 billion in U.S and EU=36 billion people in resource use. Stop being so arrogant, or stop having kids.
Charlie , Washington, USA
If this bacteria grows so quickly why do we have to wait until
2010? We need it NOW!
Linda Schaefer, Solon, USA
To Sean from Minneapolis,
It did not take millions of years to produce oil. You need to do more research. Mike from Phoenix.
Mike, Phoenix, USA
I once saw a film where a laboratory produced a plastc eating bug, it escaped and you can guess the results.
Mark, Perth,
Why do we need a large plant. Can they build a miniature plant for every household? So along with buying foodstuff for the house every week, we can also buy food for the bugs. :-)
AM, Bangalore, India
Finally, bug juice for my VW beetle!
jj
Tom Jones, Dallas, USA
we should all get a mini oil-bug machine in our back yards. Free oil for all!
lol thats gonna upset some people
ayla, london,
Brilliant - another way to keep on burning fuel to power cars.
Justin, Barcelona, Spain
Cool...
I want to be able in 10-15 years time to put 2 fingers up at the Middle East when it comes to oil.
Phil, Preston,
Just like in Kojima's second instalmemt of his Metal Gear Solid series. We should give the great man a bow for his foresight!
Adam Watson, Banbridge, Northen Ireland
As a possible source, we could use the tree leaves and branches and the grass from where you mow your lawns that the city picks up everyweek out in front of yards in most citys. That would also be recycling.
Michael Harston, hinesville, GA, USA
I for one welcome our new petroleum-excreting overlords.
Joe from Kiev - maybe you're right. The Saudi's were saying a few weeks ago they were at pumping capacity, now they can magic up another half a million barrels per day. Hmmm.
Rich, Cambridge, UK
"the much-publicised problems created by using food crops for fuel..."
Only 1-2 % of the price hikes are caused by using crops for fuel instead of food. The rest is caused by stock market speculation in food prices.
Nikolaj Nielsen, copenhagen, denmark
The idea of these bugs getting out and devouring our food supplies is ludicrous. There's already regular E. coli in the environment from animal excrement and THAT E. coli is not turning our forests and farms into fatty acids at anything close to an alarming rate.
Karen, Chestertown, USA
Stephen from Orlando -- Good point.
A renewable, carbon-negative fuel? Al Gore's worst nightmare.
John Cole, Saint Louis, USA
Ordinary living stuff doesn't ferment from yeast until it starts to rot--acidophilus and such keep it in check. Yeast dies when it makes too high a concentration of alcohol in mash, and will die when it makes too high a concentration of oil. Irradiate food and you kill any yeast. It's a non-problem.
Julie Cochrane, Atlanta, Georgia, US
I know where they can build it -- in ALL our backyards. We, the people should take over and seize this technology for the betterment of mankind -- NOT to enlarge profits for the few. Haven't we learned ANYTHING in 10,000 years of "civilization?"
laura, greenvill, usa
If it takes extra enzymatic steps for the bacteria to create pump ready oil, then it would also require extra energy to produce. Oil-producing "bugs" might then evolve to lose this trait rather quickly as they would be at an energetic disadvantage to those which produce simpler fatty acids.
Doug , Seattle, WA, USA
What do they call these microbes? POLITICIANS?
Lori, patterson,ca, us
Jim wills, there is an organism that takes CO2 from the air and releases O2 its called a tree. When the tree is done then you can convert it into oil.
Sam Johns, Salem, USA
"What is also needed is a bug the digests CO2 and releases oxygen from the CO2 molecular bond. Then we will have a perfect pairing." ?? Jim, every plant on the planet does that! And that is exactly were it will all go, again, just like it did the last several hundred times it peaked.
Dan Kralis, Atlanta, GA, USA
It should be carbon neutral in that it would be using a reusable source, ie not a one off burn of carbon trapped under the ground burning. The next years agicultural growth (and therefore waste) would again remove the released carbon from the atmosphere.
JohnW, Oldham,
The creation of oil from bugs is great news in one way but a disaster in another. Burning of "Bug Oil" will generate CO2. What is also needed is a bug the digests CO2 and releases oxygen from the CO2 molecular bond. Then we will have a perfect pairing.
Jim Wills, Brisbane, Australia
Good Job Silicon Valley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Modern Inginuity and the freedom to exercise it will get us out of this mess.
Too me, nothing is more important than getting than freeing our country's dependence on foreign oil. However, it would be so awesome to also free us from needing petro.
Joel, Bolivar, MO, US
make it run my dodge van, I'll use it!
anne, berkeley, USA
It can't be energy negative. It's eating plant sugars (derived from atmospheric CO2) and consuming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. One could easily surmise that it will be carbon neutral.
Rick Hudson, Lexington, KY, USA
Has anyone ever stopped to think what would happen if these GM organisms escaped into the wild? How long will the planet be viable when thousands of tons of organisms are excreting oil all over the surface of the planet?
John, St. Louis, MO, USA
While this process would go a long way to alleviating our peak oil scenario, it will do absolutely nothing to help the global warming situation. The idea that the process is 'carbon negative' is completely misleading - any carbon put into the fuel is burnt and released back into the atmosphere.
Joshua, San Rafael, USA
Since when do Lexus SUV's run on crude oil? This would solve all the problems of refining the stuff we're getting from overseas.
Ryan, Stillwater, USA
This is brilliant!. Yes, there are issues to work out, but if it works, it's better than an alternative energy source. Renewable oil that REDUCES carbon dioxide. This could directly break OPEC's monopoly, without waiting for car manufacturers, gas stations, & consumers to change.
Karen, Chestertown, USA
Forget bugs! WHY aren't global auto makers converting engines to run on cooking oil, water or gas vaporizers? The technology exists today! If one inventor can do it, why isn't it on assembly lines. Do the auto makers of the world have stock in the oil companies or what? Govt's too lax on
Big Oil
Jeffrey Lockhart, Port Charlotte, FL, USA
See Webster Tarpley on youtube on the fake peak oil scare.
I tend to agree that oil is not a fossil fuel, but is remains of primative earth's methane/hydrocarbon environs, now sequestured in the crust. One oil man told me that leave a dry well for a length of time and it becomes pumpable again.
Jana Dixon, Boulder, USA
Our forest are being killed by beatles. If the dead and dying trees were converted to gas, a lot of barrels of oil would be saved, a lot of forest fires would be eliminated and a lot of CO2 going into the atmosphere would be prevented.
Wayne Beckman, Helena, Montana, USA
Liquify the food wast and pump it into empty salt domes. Then add the bugs and come back in 20 years.
Todd, Houston ,
I will definitely burn bug juice if it will help our economy! And $50 a barrel will definitely help my economy! Just do it!
Kirby, Belleville, USA
its A BUGS LIFE DISNEY IS RIGHT .
BUGS DO RULE THE WORLD. better start growing more trees
the bugs are going to need them,
george william taylor, hull , uk
If there is one thing we have plenty of is waste. So glad to see someone found a critter to make use of it. The ultimate in recycling, I would call it. Ditto to Sean from Minneapolis.
Rebecca, Dubuque, USA
Doesn't it seem strange to me that we were told that oil is the product of a process that takes millions of years, and these people are able to produce it in a week? There seems to be a disconnect here.
Sean, Minneapolis, USA
I see this as promising if they could get it to be mass produced. As far as it being safe or not... where do you think diabetics insulin comes from? genetically modified bacteria
daver, biloxi, usa
TDP has been around for over a decade and produce crude from any biomass. Good idea with the bugs, not sure the scale needed for it to be viable. Farmer in Georgia has patented a bacterial to produce Methane (I believe).
Kwel Beans, UseOurResources, USA
I wonder if they reproduce and if so --at what rate? what would happen if one or two got out into the eco-system? 2011 we should already have an alternative fuel source anyways...
Stephen, Cullowhee, USA
It's going to be awesome when these "yeast" get loose and turn all of our food into sludge. Then maybe "we" could be re-engineered, ...and so on ...and so on ...
Jim Beau, Cornwall, Ontario
By 2011!!! I hope we would have found an alt. fuel by 2011. I wonder how much gas would cost by then? Another factor is what happens when one or two of those bugs get out into the eco-system....do they reproduce and if so how quickly! Ever read the book Prey? book deals w/ same topic.
Stephen Bonjour, Cullowhee, USA
Some one says "don't worry, we have a technological fix for your oil addiction" and all the little children go to bed happy.
katie monday, Bristol,
This is all very nice but some important points have been missed here: Production and logistics of sugar requires vast amount of oil. Oil is cheap (still is) because it gives 30 units of energy to 1 unit used to produce it. Nothing invented ever since comes even close.
alan milestone, London, UK
Is the image truly the hydrocarbon fraction alone? If so, it is the filthiest diesel fuel I have ever seen! Is this not instead a concentrated bacterial lysate?
Hugh, Lake E, USA
Hey all - re mitigating economic, environmental and geopolitical issues both home and abroad, it is not that simple.
No matter what side you are on a serious change has positive effects one way and negative effects another.
Environmental group interests may not be what you think they are,
wait & C
Dean Morgan, Rochester NY, USA
It sounds promising, but I have a few questions and concerns.
1) What is the yield per liter of fermentation broth?
2) How much energy input is required per liter of crude oil? Is it energy negative?
3) How expensive will it be? Biotech products can be costly.
Ed White, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA
This is amazingly cool. As far as the mutation theory, this says these micro-organisms are derived from yeast and/or E. Coli. So saying they are going to mutate and eliminate the human race or get out in the environment is like saying a distillery for alcohol is going to release deadly yeast.
Paul, SLC, UT, USA
So, lets say the bug is released in the wild, we will then have lake of oil, rivers of oil and a sea of oil.
Well Not really but we will have some issues if this bacteria makes it out and starts eating away at everything. We should have oil but maybe no food.
Godin, Paul , Ottawa, Canada
Another "patent" for microbes is somewhat disingenuous. Anaerobically functioning microbes have been converting oxygen laden rock, the true basis of petroleum, long before any so-called "engineered" bacteria was conceived. Otherwise, "genetically modified bugs," are not required.
Eliezer, Vancouver, Canada
If the DNA of plants like rape & sunflowers are sufficiently tweeked we might have a sustainable motor oil which we can press out. Indeed seeing how quickly some weeds grow, tweeking these to be better material for oil producing bugs will no doubt be high on genetic seed producers must-do lists.
Damian, Brighton, UK
President Truman said "The only thing new is the history you do not know." In the middle ages spices were very important to the economy but the Middle East had a expensive monopoly on them. Well our ancestors found a way to get them with out going through the Middle East. History is repeating.
Stephen, Orlando, USA
Since the per capita consumption of beer in the US is about 21 gals and 26 in the UK, why not simply convert all breweries to making crude oil - solving both DUI and the petroleum crisis in one blow. Unlikely, but it gives an idea of the scale necessary for a bacterial fill-up.
Dave, Mansfield, USA
If this could work on a large enough scale so that we were self-sufficient from an energy standpoint, WOW!!! I am obviously not a deep thinker, but I would love you people. God bless you and your endeavor. I really like my SUV and do not want to drive a tin can. Thank you!!!
Ann, Canyon City, USA
Even if the bugs escape, they cannot carry all of their inserted DNA far and cause havoc. For an organsm to maintain its plasmid for more than a few generations, you need selective pressure, like the application of a drug that their plasmids resist! No drug, no problem! STD mol bio stuff.
Hugh, Lake E, USA
These organisms are not dangerous, and will not run amok. For them to retain their plasmids (and thus their engineering) more than a few generations, selective pressure must be maintained. This usually involves drug resistance genes and high drug concentrations. This is lacking in the "real world"
Hugh, Lake E, USA
I sincerely hope this isn't a hoax!
Joe, London, UK
Brilliant. With a more energy pragmatic leadership both in the country and in the world, solutions like this will get their footing and help mitigate economic, environmental and geopolitical issues both at home and abroad.
ashish, san francisco, usa
The major improvement seems to be the removal of the distalaiton process. I suspect there will be many more advances in this technology in comming months. I predict that in a few years time we will be able to buy fuel directly from farmers much like we by tomatos today, often at road side stands.
David Fowler, Elgin, USA
In all truth, I think this is a great idea. If it is a matter of O-zone problems then these 'yuppies' can create a large supply of oil through the same process as this company is doing and not burn it. This will clean up CO2 a little because the proccess is as they mentioned 'Carbon Negative'.
Alex Krasn, Brooklyn, USA
Rozz here again: and what I forgot to say is that... although the termites are very slow in their movemnets, they actually fly (cruise) at night and land on a person, hence in my hair and on my body also. Ach! how awful! The smell of petrol from their bodies is very, very sgtrong.
Rozz, San Pedro Island, Belize C.A.
Even better if the bugs can be fed waste paper or waste "plastic" made from corn & potatoes, as the fastest growing mountains in our world are at landfill garbage dumps.
Phil, El Cerrito, CA, USA
Things like this are very exciting. It's so funny that with our increasingly socialist government and attitudes, people still don't realize that the natural forces of environmentally-conscious capitalism and creativity are going to save the day - not stupid carbon-trading programs.
Cameron, Provo, USA
Hydrogen cars DO run on electricity, as your previous comment implies. You suggest that they may not in the future -- which is unlikely itself -- but currently they do. Not only that, but the even the theoretical limitations of hydrogen as a fuel source are less efficient than existing technologies.
Dan Ray, Boulder, CO, United States
The USA uses petroleum for more than 1/3 of its electrical generation... If this makes sense then burning wood chips directly makes more sense.
It would be a lot easier to use any of these bio fuels to supplant home heating oils to be burned not run through a motor but thats not trendy enough.
Richard Weir, Baltic, CT, USA
While a factory field the size of Chicago sounds daunting, we must compare this with the aggregate size of the refineries and drilling stations necessary to produce the oil we are currently consuming. I expect the physical space requirements are similar.
William W., USA,
check ARSC www.hydrafuelcell.com
very nice
morris, london, uk
Sorry, Frank. Hydrogen cars do NOT run on electricity. The process to create hydrogen is commonly an electrical process. There are solutions out there. People really should stop with the negativity and let people invent without hostility.
Tim M., Virginia, USA
Unless we can convince 3rd world populations to not have children and to take a more considered and intellectual approach to the entire reproduction function, no amount of energy efficiency will save us since any benefit will be quickly outweighed by an increased population over time.
Angus MacPherson, San Francisco, USA
Do we need a factory that covers Chicago? I take great cheer from the small size of the test plant. I want something the size of an oil drum that can take my leylandii clippings, food waste, lawn mowings, and cardboard. In a flat, you want one that fits under the sink. Small is still beautiful.
Richard Kirk, Redbourn,
If all the environmentalists would just commit suicide the earth would go carbon negative!
Bob Sloggin, Chantilly, USA
Hydrogen-powered cars don't run on water. They run on electricity. That electricity has to be generated. Hydrogen power just moves the pollution from one place to another.
Frank Upton, Solihull,
Just like in metal gear 2 for the MSX. A video game from the late eighties or early nineties. Wow nice on kojima.
Chris, seattle, us
"LS9’s bugs are single-cell organisms, each a fraction of a billionth the size of an ant"
Way too technical, how many london buses or olympic swimming pools is that?
Alan, Oxford,
Thirty years ago, during another oil crisis, researchers in Australia found an algae that produced commercial quantities oil in lakes in bright sunlight.
The crisis passed and the interest passed. Don't know what happened in th e meantime.
Bruce Scott, Albany, Australia
Whether you believe global warming is fact or fiction, you must agree that measures for renewable energy is necessary if only to bring down oil prices. Many believe that US$200 is but months away, we need to stop speculating on oil, and start speculating in alternative energy.
Mike, Hong Kong, China
This is the answer to our prayers! And we'll have massive oil spills that keep on giving too when this bug escapes into the wild.
Paul, Redmond, WA, USA
The internal combustion engine became obsolete as soon as Tesla and Westinghouse defeated Edison's dreams of a DC world. Then the AC electric car was born. Recently, Toshiba and about ten auto manufacturers have developed electric cars which will totally defeat ic tech and make ic tech a lost art.
EDWARD WRAY MOREHOUSE, JACKSONVILLE, U.S.A.
This story is nothing new. Scientists all over are experimenting with using microorganisms to convert biomass to fuel. I'm a little skeptical that biomass can be directly converted to crude oil. For another similar technique, look up the mixalco process. Looks promising.
Kevin Rollins, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Brings to mind someone who a few years ago convinced Investors he could extract Sugar from Pine sawdust by Fermenting
A short time later, having been "Run out of town" in one area for having not produced any Sugar, he reappeared further South extracting Vanillian from sawdust by fermentation
Rocky Spring, Masterton,
This is the story created by PR to push the price of oil down - like 'soon we will not need oil - our bugs will make it for us'. Do not expect bugs-oil any time soon.
savo, london, uk
This all sounds nice, but big oil will do the same it has done with bio-diesel. I found out from one of the suppliers in S.Texas, that they have to keep a "comparable and competitive " price with the petrol pumps to avoid big oil coming and purchasing everything with their big trucks and fat wallets
jimmi, E.Texas,
Though man caused climate change is one of many one world controller's hoaxes, go alternative energy!
Would not hurt the USA to drill our own oil. Stuff the oil co's enviro's!! It's Father's day! Gimma a steak!!
SamFox, USA
SamFox, Rimrock, USA
Imagine if they could have the bugs feed on lawn clippings and every home owner could have an oil producing unit in their garage.........
C.T., Austin, usa
I live in San Pedro, Belize. My rented apartment is alive with termites. They are even in my hair! They are brown in colour have very strong backs so cannot be crushed. They can be squashed tho' and in so doing, they smell of Petrol. What are they? I feel positively ill.
Rozz, San Pedro Island, Belize C.A.
alternative fuels such as hydrogen have their problems too. Water vapor is many times more significant as a greenhouse component, compared to co2 One should read more of the available information on temperature fluctuations before jumping on the co2 global warming band wagon.
doug lewis, brookings , usa
This sounds exciting, but still involves the "burning" of biomass that would otherwise have fostered soil health. There was no "waste" biomass before humans arrived, and there is none now. Distilled to its essence, the scheme is still a trade-off: burning plant material to effect transportation.
Alan Hall, Clarkesville GA, USA
There is no reason not to burn petroleum products. We all know now that man-made global warming is a myth and there is no danger from carbon emissions. We need to maximize supply to get the price down. We need more liquid oil, oil shale, tar sands, coal liquification, algae, bacteria, etc.; now.
Mike, Middleburg, USA
Claiming carbon negativity is interesting. It's possible to argue that this is better than regular petroleum since growing new organic material will remove carbon. However, arguing it is better than technologies that do not emit carbon because it creates an incentive to grow more is presumptuous.
Tom Hughes-Croucher, London, UK
This is not new. This is how 99 percent of petroleum was ,is and will be produced in the earth. That's right an endless supply. It's called "the abiotic theory of petroleum formation". These scientists are lending more credibility to this idea through their work.Capped off wells are refilling.GOOGLE
TRUTHseekNOW, Palmyra,New York, United States of America
I hope this works out but there is one giant problem. Professional environmentalists will do anything to block new sources of petroleum because they want yuppie energy ( wind, solar, tidal etc. ) instead of fossil fuels or nuclear energy. The scare tactics have begun. The lawsuits will follow.
Ken Hahn, Placentia CA, USA
h20 car = bogus. Read the article with an inquiring mind. It uses a "generator" to seperate hydrogen and oxygen. what powers the generator? The article is silent. This process is called electrolosis and has been around a while. Takes MORE energy to break O and H out of water than you get back.
mike, Dallas, USA
Air car is bogus too, esp the claim it's "zero emissions". Sure, if you have a free, limitless supply of compressed air. Which we do not have. Hence, the name COMPRESSED air, the adjective indicating something has been done to it. Something that takes quite a bit of energy from somewhere else.
mike, Dallas, USA
The world desperately needs more food and energy, Global warming is reducing land available to make both. The answer is to use the oceans to grow all the algae and seaweed we need, a few billion pounds in developing ways to make it profitable and bingo! The world is saved.
Mr A J Roberts, COLCHESTER, UK
To Donnerhenin, Boston, USA
Thanks for the explanation. It allows us to cease adding new CO2 via oil. However that iterative cycle does not decrease the amount of CO2, does it? Surely it is better to increase the use of renewables, geo-thermal, wind, wave, CCP? Or it is a mix of bugs and renewables?
R Carolus, Timbuktu,
'Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol'. Sounds like they are describing politicians.
therockofages, Tampa, USA/FL
Great initiative! By the way how was "natural oil" formed in the first place and how does best estimates of the process differ from that currently being developed? Could the "natural" process as currently postulated be recreated and accelerated?
Ken Stacey, Thirroul, Australia
Wow, some really odd comments in here - oil is from bacteria deep in the planet and cars run on hydrogen and compressed air are somehow going to be better than what we've got (just think about the huge amounts of energy and infrastructure needed to do this). Biofuels from waste not food crops - yes.
Al Dente, Newcastle upon Tyne,
Considering that the water powered engine and technology for separating hydrogen and oxygen has been around for years, even now Japan has designed a car that runs purely on water.
So why the urge to carry on burning oil into the environment?
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_23767.aspx
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_23767.aspx
jeremy jones, london,
I think this is going to multiply our problems not solve them, if there is a leak in the plant "The Happening" would be real. We have no means of predicting what course of destruction the bgs would take.
j.j, ahmedabad, india
This technology is actually not necessary since Guy Negre in France has developed a compressed air car that is zero polluting, has a range of 160 miles, goes 68 miles per hour, has an automatic transmission and air conditioning. Look up "compressed air car" on Google.
victor.compton, Cherbourg, France
More than 50 years ago, Isaac Asimov foresaw this, and even predicted we would be using yeast and bacteria as a way to produce not only fuel but food, each strand of yeast being altered to produce different kinds of taste and texture.
It's amazing to see the first steps of this actually happening.
Emmanuel, Tel-Aviv,
Their a day late and a dollar short, google "bell bio energy"
Chris Snyder, Cosby, USA
Brazilian sugar cane? That is brilliant, why not plow under even more of the Amazon to make way for americas reckless consumption. Perhaps we should look to domestic sources of non environmentally degrading stocks instead of commiting environmental holocaust overseas. Scrub willow from Maine?
Billy, anchorage, USA
Tom Gray is incorrect. The same process is how cows turn grass into methane. The biowaste is made into a slurry, allowed time (~1 month) for the microbes to do their work, and then the hydrocarbons are removed.
Bell Bio-Energy of Tifton, GA USA has already proven this process works.
JD, Waleska, GA, USA
Forget about internal combustion. By nature it produces heat and exhaust gas.
What we need is autos constructed of lightweight superstrong recyclable materials powered by rechargeable electric batteries. Electricity to recharge batteries comes from solar, wind, water and geothermal power.
Craig, Camden,
This makes me wanna go out and fire up that big block chevy!
Scott M, Philly, USA
The real question for me is, will Big Oil let them go through with it, or shut them down clandestinely?
S. McNamara, Lima, OH,
It sounds like these folks are a step behind Bell Bio-Energy, in Tifton, GA. The bottom line is cleaner hydrocarbons for less cost that can be made into blended fuels with less problems. Sulfur and paraffin free diesel, for example.
JD, Waleska, GA, USA
These bugs getting loose probably won't be a problem since we already have organisms that eat these things. How do you think organic waste decomposes in the first place?
Tony S., Independence, MO,
This story is misleading. It implies that the process starts with cellulose such as wood chips. It does not. The process begins with sugars that must be derived from cellulose by other means just as hundreds of other companies are doing.
Tom Gray, Mansfield Quebec, Canada
OK, So how do they keep this from escaping into the environment and turning the Everglades into one big oil slick? A few years ago they were working with GE soil bacteria that turned "agricultural waste" into alcohol until it was discovered that the bacteria killed all soil life.
Richard Fessenden, Savannah, NY,
I think they should locate their production facilities within our respective legislatures. Most of our politicians produce such an enormous amount of crude bio feedstock that our energy needs would be met for untold generations.
AJ, Carlisle, USA
Nicely done.
However, what happens if these "bugs" escape the lab and start eating wood chips and other biomass in the wild and start "excreting" oil which then gets in the water supply.
Has anyone watched (or read) "The Andromeda Strain"?
Lou, Chicago, USA
'Carbon Negative'. A beautiful phrase that I've not heard before. The more we use the less global warming! (maybe we'd have another new phrase; 'global cooling'? No more ugly windmills, no more destruction of tidal estuaries, no more dependancy on Russian and Middle East oil.
John C Ireland
John C, Cork (ex Liverpool), Ireland
Hmm. Use the giant salt caves that used to store oil to produce more oil. Mix two parts algae and one part bug in huge cave, stir, voila.
Dond, Fort Worth,
This begs the question. How can we not be 100% sure that this is not what is going on in the first place abit with slightly different organisms that feed off something else? I've always though that the amount of oil we have suck out of the ground is way more than could have ever originally made.
Patrick, North Berea, SC,
i remember when they designed a bug to clean up diesel spills on land.
now it is the bane of people that use diesel fuel.
http://www.de-bug.com/boats/boats2.html
i had nothing but problems with this years ago when i worked in the mining industry.
augoldminer, high desert calif , USA
Presumably you don't need a single plant on 200 square miles, but could instead have multiple plants either near the source of feedstock or on the refinery sites. The waste materials, fiber and minerals not incorporated in the oil, could be returned to the soil.
P.A.Uphoff, Richmond, TX, USA
R Carolus, if your only concern is Co2 in the atmosphere, then you should look at the beginning of this process, not the oil at the end. When the plants grow they take Co2 OUT of the air. We convert it to oil, burn it and put it back. Repeat. The CO2 levels stop increasing. That's good.
Donnerhenin, Boston, USA
A fascinating article. Surely if this method can be used to produce even half of America's oil then the benefits are immense.
Mark, Bradford, UK
why dont they let the bug out into the enviroment .....see if we can survive on crude oil / bug excretion......not sure if youve got the formula for $0 oil think about it.
john, manchester, uk
diesel fue why dont they just say ureka..... or it is urea!!
john, manchester, uk
To Mark from Burnley. Solar power isn't efficient, only about 6% of the energy that lands on them is converted to electricity. Also the major problem with solar power is that when does everyone need electricity? At night!
Wind power is still at the mercy of nature, and batteries are inefficient!
J, Wells, Somerset
Dear Chris K, from Cheltenham, the 'bugs' can produce diesel as well as crude oil. And to John Chuckman, from Toronto, that is the reason why diesel, not crude oil, is shown in the photo/caption.
Chris Ayres, London,
Amyris Technologies, another CA biotech firm, has signed a contract with one of the largest sugar cane growers in Brazil. The contract will fund constructiuon of a pilot plant for a process that will use an Amyris-designed bacteria to convert cane pulp into a hydrocarbon. LS9 is late to the party.
George Booth, Denver, USA
Do a google search on industrial hemp for the perfect crop for biomass. Just climb over your cognitive dissonance and read the history, including the fact early in our history, one could be fined for not growing industrial hemp.
sam, Cave Creek, usa
So emgines using this stuff will still pollute? Sounds like this is a political biggie rather than an environmental one - although perhaps the US 'and it's allies' would pollute less by dropping fewer bombs.
Diane, Sutton,
A bug is a specific sort of insect, not a bacterium. There are no single cell "bugs".
However, I cannot understand how it is carbon-negative if the feedstock is waste that agriculture would in any event have generated, but whose carbon would not have been oxidised after transformation into bioleum
James E. Petts, Burnham, England
I am filling up the back of my car with compost right now.
Heiko Khoo, London, UK
They are thinking outside the box.
Regardless of whether we are replacing oil with oil this is useful step to securing energy independence for the U.S.
Everyday the U.S. pumps a billion dollars into the Saudi Arabia for oil. Imagine the jobs this industry could create here in America!
Rach, San Diego, U.S.A
"Well if they need a place to manufacture petrol, why not make it in the vast spaces from which oil was removed in the first place? "
Wouldn't it be better to have many such manufacturing plants around the world so that one single group can't dictate prices, access and supply.
scotty, Melbourne,
"agricultural waste will be used" - There isn't nearly enough agricultural waste around to fuel all the world's vehicles. It might make a mint for this small company, but the effect on the global oil market will be negligible.
Andrew Montgomery, Oxford, UK
To Kevin from Salisbury. I agree with you. Why bother replacing oil with oil, when the great problem is CO2 emissions and global warming. Amazing how most people just can't think outside the box when they read an article like this. Or maybe they're just stooges, employees & friends of the inventors.
R Carolus, Timbuktu,
Interesting stuff, but your report has a good deal of confusion.
The picture caption refers to diesel fuel. The article refers to crude oil and petroleum (or gasoline).
What do the bacteria actually produce?
Also bacteria and yeasts are not "bugs," but plants.
JOHN CHUCKMAN, Toronto, Canada
It beats invading Iraq
Jonathan L, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Sounds good, but why get these bugs to produce crude oil which, presumably, will require messy processing to convert into petrol? Wouldn't it be better to program the bugs to directly produce petrol (or preferably some new super-fuel which is cleaner and more efficient)?
Chris K, Cheltenham, uk
The Hungarian engineer, Nikola Tesla, demonstrated 80 years ago that almost limitless power can be obtained using simple principles of physics, transforming tiny quantities of mass into vast amounts of energy.
It was such bad news for the energy industry that his work has been ignored ever since.
Dr Alan Marsh, Ely, UK
This is better than hydrogen because it dosnt require new infrastructure and could in theory put this bio oil back in oil wells to undo the damage we have done.
These bugs are verry safe normal antibiotic will work on them if ever some got out of the plant.
Edward smith, Birkenhead, UK
This is great news... However it makes more sense to develop cars that run on electricity or hydrogen or something not polluting. Although this oil might be overlall "carbon neutral", this does not avoid exhaust gases being pulled under our noses in the cities (with all known health consequences).
Michele, London, United Kingdom
Cars will never be green, even if fairy dust came out of the exhaust pipe, they still need roads to drive on, roads are generally built over green spaces.
Frank, Bristol, UK
Solar/wind producing electirc stored in batteris is the holy grail as it is very efficient, not much anergy wasted during any stage of the process, but the technology isn't there yet.. Solar cells are getting better and batteries have a long way to go.
Mark, Burnley, UK
Surely we need to be burning less oil, not encouraging people to keep using it?
Kevin, Salisbury, UK
Wonderful... then one of those bug will mutate and there will be a leak in the plant and half of the population will die until another corporation finds a new bug which kills the old one, which will mutate until an..............
The solution is energy from the wind, from the sun, from the sea...
Toni, Southampton, UK
A welcome change from bugs that eat oil and excrete waste.
Nicholas Wibberley, El Contador, Spain
Brilliance!
Even if it cost $139 a barrel it would be an environmental bargain.
Tim, bristol,
It sounds good, but these things always do! My question is, how safe are these genetically modified bugs? I think that there needs to be many years of testing before I would be happy.
MGrelton, London, uk
Well if they need a place to manufacture petrol, why not make it in the vast spaces from which oil was removed in the first place?
TJ, Darlington, UK
There is a theory that oil is not made from prehistoric decayed plants but by bacreria deep within the planet. That is why depleted oil wells fill up again over time. Worth checking out - makes interesting reading...unless you run OPEC.
Joe, Kiev, Ukraine
Texas is a big place. Room enough for these plants won't be hard to find . . .
Michael, Pueblo, Colorado, US
When Gold, discoverer of quasars, drilled deep for gas and oil on the basis of his grasp of the planet's composition, his deepest oil samples held micro-bacteria that had thrived in heat and pressure within crude oil, killed only by the decompression of their extraction (cf "Power from the Earth")
Geordie Kidston, London, UK