j_sum1
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Feed your bacteria some cadmium. Make acetic acid.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-40975719
This is an interesting idea. I have long been interested in artificial photosynthesis -- it would seem to be a more practical option than
photovoltaic cells in many situations. Storing the energy as a fuel rather than in a battery has certain advantages.
I recall hearing about a similar idea involving a ruthenium catalyst (and rather a lot of it too) where water and atmospheric CO2 was converted to
ethanol IIRC. there were certain hurdles to the process including catalyst availability. I have not come across any further developments for a
while.
This is a new idea and somewhat simpler -- a kind of hybrid chemistry/bioengineering approach. From the article I am not really clear how it works.
Cd is added to a bacterial broth and photosensitive CdS crystals are excreted and stick to the surface of the bacteria. I gather that the bacteria
then produce acetic acid in response to electrical energy produced in the crystals. But the article is not explicit on this point.
A whopping 80% efficiency is claimed -- well in excess of plant photosynthesis. (This claim warrants some further investigation -- what is the
baseline used?) Furthermore they assert that there is room for more improvement including bacterial processing of the acetic acid to butanol.
I love reading about these kind of new ideas and look forward to seeing if the claims are legitimate and whether this might lead to some new energy
technologies.
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symboom
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That is interesting hopefully soon semisynthetic biology will become more amature friendly
With the diy genetic engineering crisper kit for $150
Eventually there could be a new topic called biological engineering or into the biochemistry page making chemicals from yeast like oil but where to
start how to replicate results
Back to the topic so I have a dish of incubated certian type of bacteria put nano cadmium powder that was made by cadmium oxalate decomposition then
added in water then add the bacteria I think the bacteria forms the cadmium sulfide if I read that right
[Edited on 23-8-2017 by symboom]
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