 and Balasubramanian are searching for a way to efficiently harvest oil from diatoms that could be used as biofuel.)
BIOFUEL BARONS? The Indian Institute of Science's Ramachandra (left) and Balasubramanian are searching for a way to efficiently harvest oil from diatoms that could be used as biofuel.
Image: © SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN/SASWATO DAS
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BANGALORE, India—In the ongoing hunt for alternative fuel sources that are also cost-effective, researchers are looking into making biofuel from genetically engineered diatoms, a type of single-celled algae with shells made of glasslike silica.
These microscopic plants, commonly observed as a brown skin coating submerged stones in rivers and lakes and as phytoplankton in seas and oceans, typically contain oil droplets inside their cells. The oil is a food source for the plants in lean times. Scientific analysis of diatom oil has shown that it is very suitable for use as biofuel, says T. V. Ramachandra, a professor of ecological sciences at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here who is working on this project with IISc researchers Durga Mahapatra and Karthick Balasubramanian, along with Richard Gordon, a radiology professor at the University of Manitoba in Winnepeg.
Sitting in his book-lined office in a leafy corner of the IISc campus in Bangalore, Ramachandra proposes it might just be possible "to milk diatoms for oil just as we milk cows." He and his colleagues have been talking about a solar panel that could extract this oil instead of producing electricity.
The oil can be as much as a quarter of the total mass of a diatom cell, and if a way could be found to efficiently wrest it from diatoms, he adds, a hectare of "diatom cultivation could produce 10 to up to 200 times the oil that is produced by soybean cultivation," Ramachandra says. (This estimate has been borne out by other, independent research groups, as well.)
The researchers propose creating a biological solar panel, which will contain diatoms instead of photovoltaic cells. Diatoms would float about in a nutrient-rich water solution and produce oil when exposed to sunlight. Diatoms already secrete silica by exocytosis—a biological process by which cells direct secreted material outside the cell walls. If diatoms could be made to similarly secrete the oil they produce, then it could be easily harvested. (Because the oil is used as a reserve nutrient—like fat—diatoms have evolved no mechanism to secrete it.)
New diatom species
Diatoms may have other advantages when it comes to oil production. They multiply rapidly—some species double their biomass in as little as five hours. Diatoms are also quite numerous, with the estimated number of species exceeding one million. "There are 2,500 species of diatoms in India alone," says Balasubramanian, who is writing his doctoral thesis on these algae. He discovered three new species in India while hunting for those with the most oil content.
Ramachandra and his colleagues propose to genetically modify diatoms by manipulating the genes that produce oil so that they enhance its production. "It may be possible to genetically engineer diatoms so that they exocytose [release] their oil droplets," the researchers wrote in a paper outlining their thoughts, published in a recent issue of the American Chemical Society's journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research: "This could lead to continuous harvesting with clean separation of the oil from the diatoms, provided by the diatoms themselves."
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32 Comments
Add CommentThis also could have the benefit of getting rid of the human waste, urin and such. That would probably be good fertilizer to these algae.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFor some time I've thought about artificial systems to produce useful organic materials directly from sunlight. This may be a viable mechanism, but let's be vigilant. Although a long shot, it's not inconceivable to consider dire consequences to an ecosystem built on diatoms...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisif they are in the solar panels they would most likely be "custom made" for the best results, the only damage to the ecosystems would be in the initial research, and most likely using the oil.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"milk diatoms for oil just as we milk cows [for milk]." With much smaller equipment, of course...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this...so I suppose there's no possibility of some "custom made" living stuff to accidentally find it's way into nature? And, just assume for a moment it does, and that it's, say, especially poisonous, or even not especially palatable (for another important thing that relies on diatoms), yet out-competes the edible diatom? Do you see where I'm going?... Unintended consequences can ruin the best laid plans.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTwo concerns...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFirst, if the genetically modified diatoms escaped the controlled environment, what would be the long term effect on our biosphere. How would old solar panels be disposed of?
Second, if the genetically modified diatoms were being transported around the world, would a spill of these diatomes be as dangerous to the environment as an oil spill?
Oh my, the poor little critters are being abused! Someone please contact PETA or the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDiatom Rights!
Diatom Rights NOW!!
Assuming the genetic modifications they are making will make these diatoms less fit in an evolutionary sense. Imagine a mutation in humans that prevented them from creating fat reserves. Go a day or two without eating and they would die. This seems like a safe modification to me, as it would not be viable in the wild (outside of extremely favourable conditions created in the panel).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf this oil producing algae can grow in fresh water let us cultivate it in sewer treatment ponds thus producing fuel and eliminated the present energy consumption of sewer treatment plants. If the algae is only a salt water variety, let us cultivate it in the gulf of Mexico and turn the solar energy that makes hurricanes, into fuel for our energy independence.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI can see no need to modify diatoms,you need only find the most productive species.If they reproduce at the rate stated,you just grow and harvest.then recover the oil using a centrifuge,the same way cream is separated from milk.Why make the process more difficult and dangeous than it needs to be?There is no reason that this can't be done within a few months,with little research,except there are those who don't want this to happen and will delay it as long as possible.So they can get more money doing endless research.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisjack.123, if it is so easy to the process the way you state, why is it that you just don't do it yourself?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNext thing you know they will be milking the fungus in cloned humans feet to make oil.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat happens when these genetically engineered organisms eventually make it into the wild? Is it possible that an oil-spill without a tanker could happen due to these little guys leaking into the environment?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is one thing to manufacture dead things that rely on the continuous input of people to make them work. It is quite another to modify/create a whole new classes of organisms that might dramatically alter the world in which we live in uninvented ways without the need for our continuous input. First, we seldom understand what the possible implications might be. Second, if something goes wrong there is safety valve. One cannot pull the plug on mother nature or put the demons back into Pandora's box.
Astronomically huge surfaces would be needed for these extremely thin films to capture enough light to produce their oil. But good luck with the experments all the same...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEvery living being has its predators and its parasites. Every mono-culture cultures both, the intended being and its enemies.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn a huge mass production of diatomees, how much poison will be needed to safeguard the crops?
Great, another opportunity where the US R&D people don't have a clue!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs the problem really how to feed the explosion engine?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy in the world do we have to stick to a technology that's primitive, inefficient and costly?
Is the problem really how to feed the explosion engine?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy in the world do we have to stick to a technology that's primitive, inefficient and costly?
its kind of mutual beneficiary thing not an abuse ... we provide nutrients they provide oil.. so lets go ahead... keep on encouraging them... at least someone is doing some good things for mankind...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisif the diatoms are not modified for exocytoses, to express the oil by themselves, it would cost us more for milking out oil from diatoms... apart from that we would kill them by during our own separation process and we can not reuse them ... so its better to spend some time and money for genetic engineering before we start...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo what happens when a few of these genetically engineered Diatoms, which multiply rapidly, are accidentally released into the ocean? If they are engineered to easily release their oil, would they not begin to release it into the ocean also. Would that not eventually result in oceans of oil?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMany of the people commenting on this subject have touched on the various dangers from genetically engineered Diatoms, as did I. Some have also pointed out the obvious. This is just another way to produce a fuel, oil, that emits CO2 into our atmosphere and dangerously alters our climate. So how would this be any different than discovering a huge new underground deposit of oil. And on and on we go, changing our environment into a place in which we cannot survive, or, at least, not as we are now.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthere is certainly much possibility here. i'm concerned about using genetically modified phytoplankton as well as the possibility of adding even more oil to the surface of our already overstressed aquatic ecosystems. keep the creative ideas flowing!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is always some great stuff going on in India. Even in the movie <a href="http://www.juggle.com/2012"> 2012 </a> they showed that Indians found that something was happening to the earth's core.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am proud to be an Indian. :)
This is for the first time I have seen the use of diatoms for generating biofuel and this has developed me a feeling that we can make sustainable development in the field of oil through diatoms.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am a diatom worker and has just started my work and this approach has given me a vision that I also can for such demanding developments in the field of oil resource
This is for the first time that i have seen the practical application of generating oil from the diatoms. I have also started my work as diatom worker and this has given me a vision that i will also me my way to this newest development in the field of oil.
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIndeed, this is true! The use of biological solar panels is a great help for this process. There is an <a href="http://www.buildsolar.net/solar-systems/inflatable-solar-system-a-new-innovation-to-water-heating/">inflatable solar system</a> that can be used for this as a prototype.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe researchers propose creating a biological solar panel, which will contain diatoms instead of photovoltaic cells
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