We've made previous report of the CO2-recycling wonder bugs developed by our USDOE's, and/or their contractors', genius geneticist, James Weifu Lee, as can be accessed via:
USDOE Algae Recycle More CO2 and Produce Hydrogen | Research & Development; concerning:
"United States Patent 7,642,405 - Designer Algae for Photo-biological Hydrogen Production; 2010; Inventor: James W. Lee, Tennessee; This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 awarded by the United States Department of energy. The Government has certain rights in this invention. Abstract: A switchable photosystem-II designer algae for photo-biological hydrogen production. The designer transgenic algae includes at least two transgenes for enhanced photo-biological H2 production. In one embodiment, a photo-bioreactor and gas-product separation and utilization system produce photo-biological H2 from the switchable ... designer alga. The source of electrons for the metabolic ... H2 production is organic reserves such as starch ... made (during) photosynthetic Carbon Dioxide fixation."
Dr. Lee explains in detail the genetic makeup of the Algae that are, first, during a period of illumination, able to suck up the CO2 supplied to them; and, along with water and some minimal extra nutrients, convert that Carbon Dioxide photosynthetically into various starches; and, then, via the function of a "switchable" gene in the "designer alga", during an alternate period of darkness and of nutrient deprivation, able to metabolize the starches for their own energy needs and excrete elemental, molecular Hydrogen as a byproduct.
That, at least, is as we understand it.
We're certain our public, USDOE employee would be able and happy to explain it more fully and more clearly to any interested representative of the US public who might be motivated enough to make inquiry.
The point being that certain Algae are able to consume Carbon Dioxide, and then to excrete Hydrogen; which Hydrogen could then be utilized in a process like that described by our United States Navy, as in:
US Navy Recycles CO2 to Liquid Fuel | Research & Development; concerning:
"United States Patent 7,420,004 - Process and System for Producing Synthetic Liquid Hydrocarbon Fuels; 2008; Abstract: A process for producing synthetic hydrocarbons that reacts carbon dioxide, obtained from seawater or air, and hydrogen obtained from water, with a catalyst in a chemical process such as reverse water gas shift combined with Fischer Tropsch synthesis. The hydrogen is produced by ... any (energy) source that is fossil fuel-free, such as wind or wave energy. The process can be either land based or sea based";
wherein the Hydrogen produced by the CO2-recycling Algae could serve to help recycle even more CO2, in the synthesis of "Liquid Hydrocarbon Fuels".
Herein, we learn that our USDOE, and Dr. Lee and some of his other wonder bugs, are actually able to cut out the Hydrogen and US Navy middlemen altogether and to convert Carbon Dioxide, reclaimed from whatever handy source, rather directly into a well-known and widely-used liquid fuel.
Comment follows excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch to the very recent:
"US Patent 7,973,214 - Designer Organisms for Photosynthetic Production of Ethanol from CO2 and Water
Date: July 5, 2011
Inventor: James Weifu Lee, TN
Assignee: UT-Battelle, LLC, Oak Ridge
(As we have previously documented and reported, our United States Department of Energy, in it's wisdom, has begun farming out management of our crucial, government-owned National Laboratories to consortia of private and public entities. in this case a partnership between the University of Tennessee and Battelle Memorial Institute - an unusual entity that we are motivated to describe as a "skunk works", has been around since the Great Depression, and who, in various partnerships with quite few significant "others", manages nearly all of the USDOE's National Energy Laboratories. More, as usual, can be learned via:
Battelle Memorial Institute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)
Abstract: The present invention provides a revolutionary photosynthetic ethanol production technology based on designer transgenic plants, algae, or plant cells. The designer plants, designer algae, and designer plant cells are created such that the endogenous photosynthesis regulation mechanism is tamed, and the reducing power and energy acquired from the photosynthetic (processes) are used for immediate synthesis of ethanol directly from carbon dioxide and water.
The ethanol production methods of the present invention completely eliminate the problem of recalcitrant lignocellulosics by bypassing the bottleneck problem of the biomass technology. The photosynthetic ethanol-production technology of the present invention is expected to have a much higher solar-to-ethanol energy-conversion efficiency than the current technology and could also help protect the Earth's environment from the dangerous accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere.
(Well, we don't exactly know, really, how "dangerous" the "accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere" actually is. But, some other things definitely are dangerous, like: continued reliance on avaricious and sometimes unfriendly foreign OPEC nations for our supply of liquid hydrocarbon fuels and the economic vitality sapping Cap & Trade taxation of our vital Coal-use industries and their customers.)
Government Interests: This invention was made with Government support (and, the) Government has certain rights in this invention.
Claims: A method for photosynthetic production of ethanol comprising growing a transgenic designer plant or plant cells in a liquid medium, wherein the plant or plant cells are genetically engineered to express a set of enzymes in the chloroplast that act on an intermediate product of the Calvin cycle and convert the intermediate product into ethanol by utilizing NADPH and ATP generated from photosynthesis in said plant or plant cells; and recovering ethanol from said liquid medium.
The method ... wherein said plant is an aquatic or non-aquatic plant (and) wherein said plant is an alga.
The method ... wherein said set of enzymes consists of (one or more of those specified, and) wherein said set of enzymes is genetically engineered to be inserted into the chloroplasts of the transgenic designer plant or plant cells ... .
The method ... wherein the plant or plant cells are genetically engineered to also contain a DNA construct coding for at least one enzyme that facilitates the ... enhanced photobiological production of ethanol.
The method ... wherein the plant or plant cells are genetically engineered to also inactivate starch-synthesis activity.
(And, as the full Claims section reveals, they do know precisely how to do all of that.)
Description and Background: The present invention generally relates to energy production technology. More specifically, the present invention provides a revolutionary photosynthetic ethanol production methodology based on designer transgenic plants, such as transgenic algae, or plant cells that are created to use the reducing power and energy acquired from the photosynthetic process for immediate synthesis of ethanol (CH3CH2OH) directly from carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O).
(Please consider that statement, which is, in essence, that we know how to almost instantly make liquid fuel out of, basically, nothing but Water and Carbon Dioxide.)
Ethanol can be used as a liquid fuel to run engines such as cars.
A significant market for ethanol as a liquid fuel already exists in the current transportation and energy systems. In the United States, currently, ethanol is generated primarily from corn starch using a yeast-fermentation process. Therefore, the "cornstarch ethanol production" process requires a number of energy-consuming steps including agricultural corn-crop cultivation, corn-grain harvesting, corn-grain starch processing, and starch-to -sugar-to-ethanol fermentation. Independent studies have recently shown that the net energy efficiency of the "cornstarch ethanol production" process is actually negative.
(The above is as we have previously documented. It is also quite possible, that, through the required use of fuel in the cultivation and harvesting of crops, and, then, in fermenting those crops and in distilling the Ethanol, such things as "Corn Ethanol" are actually net emitters of CO2.)
That is, the "cornstarch ethanol production" process costs more energy than the energy value of its product ethanol.
This is not surprising, understandably because the cornstarch that the current technology can use represents only a small fraction of the corn crop biomass that includes the corn stalks, leaves and roots (which) are commonly discarded in the agricultural fields where they slowly decompose back to CO2.
Algae (such as those identified herein), which can perform photosynthetic assimilation of CO2 with O2 evolution from water in a liquid culture medium with a maximal theoretical solar-to-biomass energy conversion of about 10%, have tremendous potential to be a clean and renewable energy resource. However, the wild-type oxygenic photosynthetic green plants, such as eukaryotic algae, do not possess the ability to produce ethanol directly from CO2 and H2O.
The present invention provides revolutionary designer organisms, which are capable of directly synthesizing ethanol from CO and H2O. The ethanol production system provided by the present invention could bypass all of the bottleneck problems of the biomass technology mentioned above.
Summary: The present invention provides revolutionary photosynthetic ethanol production methods based on designer transgenic plants (such as algae) or plant cells. The designer plants and designer plant cells are created through genetic engineering such that the endogenous photosynthesis regulation mechanism is tamed, and the reducing power and energy acquired from the photosynthetic (processes is) used for immediate synthesis of ethanol directly from carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O).
The ethanol production methods of the present invention completely eliminate the problem of recalcitrant lignocellulosics by bypassing the bottleneck problem of the biomass technology. The photosynthetic ethanol-production technology of the present invention is expected to have a much higher solar-to-ethanol energy-conversion efficiency than the current technology.
In one aspect, the present invention provides a method for photosynthetic production of ethanol by growing a designer plant (such as a designer alga) or plant cells in a liquid culture medium, wherein the plant or plant cells are genetically engineered to express a set of enzymes in the chloroplast that act on an intermediate product of the Calvin cycle and convert the intermediate product into ethanol.
The present invention further provides a process of using a designer plant organism, in combination with a photobiological reactor system and an ethanol separation/harvesting system for photosynthetic production of ethanol and O2 directly from CO2 and H2O using sunlight.
Both industrial CO2 sources and/or atmospheric CO2 from the environment may be used in the ... process."
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Dr. Lee goes on to describe and define the genetic sequences and codes of his CO2-recycling Algae in great detail; a cataloguing that is both beyond our scope herein, and, our understanding; but:
Wow. Those specified Algae can efficiently make Ethanol for us out of "industrial" Carbon Dioxide collected from a smoke stack, perhaps via the process seen to have been reported in:
Efficient Power Plant CO2 Capture for CO2-to-Fuel Conversion | Research & Development; concerning:
"Development of an Economic Post-Combustion Carbon Capture Process; Washington D.C., USA; November, 2008; Siemens AG and EON Energie AG, Germany; Siemens develops an improved CO2 capture process with minimized energy demand, optimized for integration in conventional coal-fired power plants (for) an economic and environmentally friendly capture process".
And, they can efficiently make the Ethanol, as well, out of "atmospheric CO2 from the environment", perhaps efficiently collected and concentrated via the process disclosed in our report of:
US Navy and Columbia University Recycle Atmospheric CO2 | Research & Development; which includes, among other things, details of:
"United States Patent 7,833,328 - Scrubber for Capturing Carbon Dioxide from Air; 2010; Assignee: Columbia University, NYC; Abstract: The present invention is directed to methods for carbon dioxide from air. A scrubber apparatus for capturing carbon dioxide from open air, comprising: substantially horizontal concentric tubes each including first and second ends and surfaces there between and including a center tube axis, wherein said first and second ends are not closed so as to allow a flow of open air to pass through the tubes and directly contact the surfaces. The present invention relates generally to the field of extractors, including those that work to extract carbon dioxide. The present invention relates to carbon dioxide (CO2) removal under ambient conditions from the open air without heating or cooling the air".
We further remind you that considerable effort has been devoted to the development of "photobiological reactor system"s, aka "photobioreactors", as noted above by Lee, as seen, for instance, in our report of:
USDOE Enables CO2-Recycling Processes | Research & Development; concerning:
"United States Patent 6,603,069 - Adaptive Full-Spectrum Solar Energy System; 2003; UT-Battelle, Oak Ridge; Abstract: An adaptive full spectrum solar energy system having at least one hybrid solar concentrator, at least one hybrid luminaire, at least one hybrid photobioreactor, and a light distribution system operably connected to each hybrid solar concentrator, each hybrid luminaire, and each hybrid photobioreactor. This ... solar energy system is a unique alternative to solar energy use in buildings and photosynthetic-based bioreactors (which) uses a hybrid solar concentrator ... that efficiently collects, separates, and distributes the visible portion of sunlight while simultaneously generating electricity from the infrared portion of the spectrum using new gallium antimonide (GaSb) infrared thermophotovoltaics (IR-TPVs). The optical and mechanical properties of improved large-core polymer optical fibers more efficiently deliver large quantities of visible sunlight into buildings and photobioreactors. This invention uses: advanced materials ... and ... biomass resource development through innovative approaches to improve sunlight utilization in photobioreactors used in carbon sequestration and the production of fuels, chemicals, and agriculture products."
And, again, one of the "fuels, chemicals, and agriculture products" that can be produced in such efficient "photobioreactors used in carbon sequestration", according to the process of our subject herein, "United States Patent 7,973,214 - Designer Organisms for Photosynthetic Production of Ethanol from CO2 and Water", is, obviously, Ethanol; and, which CO2-based Ethanol can then, as via the process disclosed in:
Mobil Oil 1977 Coal-Derived Alcohols to Gasoline | Research & Development; concerning:
"United States Patent 4,025,575 - Process for Manufacturing Olefins; 1977; Mobil Oil Corporation; Abstract: A lower alcohol and/or ether feed is selectively converted to a mixture of light olefins, including ethylene and propylene, by catalytic contact of the feed ... with certain crystalline aluminosilicate zeolite catalysts ... . (And) wherein said feed comprises ethanol";
be catalytically and directly converted into the individual blending stock components of Gasoline.
Really:
Doesn't the efficient conversion of "industrial CO2 ... and/or atmospheric CO2" into Ethanol, as via the process of our subject herein, "United States Patent 7,973,214 - Designer Organisms for Photosynthetic Production of Ethanol from CO2 and Water"; and, the subsequent conversion of that Ethanol, as via the above Mobil Oil process of "United States Patent 4,025,575 - Process for Manufacturing Olefins", into Gasoline, sound one heck of a lot better than taxing our vital Coal-use industries into extinction, and the consumers of electricity produced by those Coal-use industries into impoverishment, through Cap & Trade revenue schemes?
Doesn't the concept of producing liquid hydrocarbon fuels through the recycling of a currently-unwanted domestic United States resource, i.e., Carbon Dioxide, sound one heck of a lot better than continuing our economic enslavement to the malignant, moneyed powers of OPEC and Big Oil?
Well, they can't sound any better unless they get heard. And, they can't get heard unless they get told.
It's far, far past time they were.