Biotech breakthrough: Sunlight can be used to produce chemicals, plastics and energy

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Gotta love science. For those that say we always need oil to produce certain products are neglecting that scientists the world over are looking for alternatives.

This is a ground breaking discovery. But it once again highlights what I have said for some time, and that is, we, in Alberta, need to consider that oil use is at its zenith, and get ahead of the curve in developing other economic drivers. Change may be coming much faster than we want.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have discovered a natural process they describe as reverse photosynthesis. In the process, the energy in solar rays breaks down, rather than builds plant material, as is the case with photosynthesis. The sunlight is collected by chlorophyll, the same molecule as used in photosynthesis. Combined with a specific enzyme the energy of sunlight now breaks down plant biomass, with possible uses as chemicals, biofuels or other products, that might otherwise take a long time to produce. By increasing production speed while reducing pollution, the discovery has the potential to revolutionize industrial production. The research results have now been published in Nature Communications. .....

and....

Postdoc David Cannella, a fellow researcher and discoverer, explains that, "the discovery means that by using the Sun, we can produce biofuels and biochemicals for things like plastics - faster, at lower temperatures and with enhanced energy-efficiency. Some of the reactions, which currently take 24 hours, can be achieved in just 10 minutes by using the Sun."

Source:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-bbs033116.php

Full paper:
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/16...omms11134.html

How it works

The result can be recreated by following this recipe:

You take a large sugar molecule to be oxidized. Broken down from straw and wood, for example. (biomass)
An enzyme called lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase, which is found in many fungi and bacteria
Some chlorophyll containing green extract from leaves
Everything is mixed in a test tube and exposed to sunlight. The biomass is then completely or partially broken down. In practice, this means that it becomes easier to break down larger sugar molecules into smaller constituents, which can then be used as clean energy in ethanol production for cars and ships, plastics, biogas, methanol, etc. Without sunlight, it would take hours or days to achieve the same transformation. The process takes only five minutes when exposed to sunlight.