Refillable, Biodegradable, Energy Dense Battery Developed From Sugar

Sugar battery developers Y.H. Percival Zhang (right)and Zhiguang Zhu.
Credit: Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

An environmentally friendly battery that runs on sugar has been developed by a research team at Virginia Tech.

The battery also has a very high energy density compared to previously developed sugar based fuel cells which allows it to run longer before needing to be refueled.

Conventional batteries usually use platinum as a catalyst. Instead, this battery uses sugar and a non-natural synthetic enzymatic pathway to generate electricity. Because of the process, the main byproducts of the sugar battery are electricity and water making this battery environmentally friendly.

It is also easily refilled with sugar extending its usability while also making it low cost, non-toxic, and biodegradable.

The team is confident that this battery will one day be used to power electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and other gadgets.

Renewable Plant Derived Substance Can Chemically And Biologically Develop Biofuel

Researchers from University of Wisconsin-Madison developed a technique using a plant derived chemical that can both biologically and chemically process plants into biofuel. The chemical, Gamma valerolactone (GVL), is inexpensive, renewable and recyclable.

The process converts a high 95% of the material to sugars that can be used by yeast to produce ethanol through fermentation or chemically upgrade furans to create drop-in biofuel.

In the image, the process using GVL dissolves biomass producing fractions that are rich in (from left to right) lignin monomers, hemicellulose and cellulose-derived sugars.

In creating ethanol, GVL helps in concentrating the sugar which the yeast could use to produce ethanol. The process also allows the removal of GVL from the setup for further reuse. Removing and reusing gamma valerolactone can be done through depressurization. Using the gamma valerolactone technique results in a 10% savings in ethanol production compared to current technologies.

Gamma valerolactone can also be used as a solvent for the conversion of biomass to furan chemicals.

Bioengineered Plant Boosts Oil Production For Use in BioFuels

Researchers have bioengineered plants to improve its oil production. Proof of their experiment can be seen from caterpillar larvae that has become fat from consuming the leaves of these plants. This study can lead to better production of biofuels.

Biological sources most specially from agricultural crops like soybean can be used to produce biofuels. An acre of soybean can yield about 50 gallons of biodiesel per year.

But algae surpasses this by far. Biofuel from an acre of algae can produce as much as 1,000 to 5,000 gallons per year. Biofuel production from these sources are renewable, economical, and environment friendly. Algae is easy and fast to cultivate. It only takes one to ten days to harvest fuel from algae and does not compete with regular agricultural crops for land space and water.

The process in producing biofuel from algae involves the photosynthesis. Algae converts sunlight to biomass which undergoes a chemical process to produce biofuel.

Bi-Functional Alkane Producing Enzyme Developed For More Efficient Biofuel Production

Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a bi-functional or dual enzyme that can continuously produce alkane. This can lead to using the enzyme in bacteria, algae, or plants to produce biofuels that need no further processing.

Alkanes are highly combustible chemical compounds made up of hydrogen and carbon atoms. These compounds are called hydrocarbons, more specifically, saturated hydrocarbons because they are saturated with hydrogen atoms (every carbon atom is attached to at least two hydrogen atoms). Hydrocarbons naturally occur in crude oil, where decomposed organic matter provides an abundance of carbon and hydrogen.

The first four alkanes from the group are methane, ethane, propane, and butane. Alkane can be identified because of the "-ane" suffix which is paired up with a number prefix such as dec (decane), hec (hecane), oct (octane).

When alkanes burn, they form H₂O and CO₂ - water and carbon dioxide. Because of this, they are highly valued as clean fuels. The first four alkane are used directly as fuels. A mixture of other alkanes also produce fuel. Gasoline is a mixture of alkanes from pentane up to about decane.

Aside from being used as a fuel source, alkanes are also used in other products such as plastic, paint, cosmetics, detergent and various others.

Bioenergy Demand Competing With Food Production For Land Availability

Bioenergy is energy that comes from biological or organic sources. It is a renewable source of energy. Bioenergy is also the same as biofuel.

Bioenergy comes from the processing or direct use of organic material called biomass. This biomass comes from plant and animal matter. Dead trees, branches, tree stumps, yard, animal waste, and even municipal solid waste are sources of biomass. In the case of old wood, simply burning it for heat is an example of bioenergy at work.