Skip to main content

Innovative project for producing fuel from microbes

An innovative project in the UK is aimed at replicating photosynthesis in a bid to produce biofuels. This project is being carried out by a team at the University of East Anglia (UEA), with assistance from the University of Cambridge and the University of Leeds. The intention is to find a simple and efficient process for producing hydrogen, with funding coming from the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences research council. The hydrogen produced using this technology then be used either as a fuel for i
January 23, 2013 Read time: 1 min
An innovative project in the UK is aimed at replicating photosynthesis in a bid to produce biofuels. This project is being carried out by a team at the University of East Anglia (UEA), with assistance from the University of Cambridge and the University of Leeds. The intention is to find a simple and efficient process for producing hydrogen, with funding coming from the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences research council. The hydrogen produced using this technology then be used either as a fuel for internal combustion engine cars or for vehicles with fuel cells. The process is complex and requires fitting micro solar energy converters onto microbes and extensive research will be required before it will be ready for field trials.

Related Content

  • Better maintenance is on the Horizon for UK’s Warrington Council
    May 15, 2018
    Good, readable analysis of road surfaces to ensure sufficient maintenance funding is an essential part of asset management. The technical side of ensuring a good road surface is integral to maintaining safe, superior highway infrastructure. But securing sufficient government funding for such work – repairs and new-build – based on the current road surface is also essential. To evaluate road conditions and structure for such a business case, one UK local council turned to software provider Yotta.
  • Low-entry Mercedes-Benz Econic has high visibility
    June 4, 2019
    Mercedes-Benz says that it’s low-entry Econic truck has been awarded the maximum safety-specific five-star Direct Vision rating by Transport for London. Utilities contractor Ferns Surfacing has just invested in a pair of 32tonne Mercedes-Benz Econic trucks decked out as tipper-grabs and is operating them on surface reinstatement and resurfacing duties in and around London. Ferns has 10 depots across south-east England and East Anglia, north-east of London. With its deep, panoramic windscreen and full-heig
  • The dark arts of asphalt production
    January 5, 2017
    Asphalt production is a complex process featuring many variables - Mike Varner, chief engineer at Astec Inc discussed methods with Mike Woof Asphalt production in a black art in more ways than one. It involves a complex process of mixing bitumen with aggregates under temperature and optimising this operation is crucial to maximise quality. But with so many variables, determining exactly what is going on inside an asphalt plant involves extensive research, sophisticated computer modelling and the use of a
  • Grand achievement for Intermountain
    July 18, 2012
    A versatile solution has helped with a tricky project at the Grand Canyon in the US – Pierre Peltier When Intermountain Slurry Seal, a division of Granite Construction, submitted its bid in 2009 to repair roads and parking lots along the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, the company knew the job would come with challenges. The remote roads leading from Jacob’s Lake, Arizona, to the North Rim Lodge had deteriorated to a point that the Federal Highway Association’s (FHWA) Central Federal Lands (CFL) Highway Division