Fuel, actually green fuel, has been a problem ever since the humanity realized that Earth is being destroyed by pollution and all kind of waste. Many researchers are trying to come up with new ways to produce renewable energy and substitutes for petroleum. Now a group of scientists from the Amyris Biotechnologies in Emeryville have created organisms that can turn sugar into oil.
These genetically modified organisms are called E. coli. and the Amyris company believes that they are an alternative solution for fuel. Jack Newman, biologist and one of the founders of Amyris, and his team genetically modified the organisms in order to turn sugar in gasoline hoping that for the future they will be able to take them into industrial production.
The technology behind E. coli. is based on the implantation of genes from various organisms into microbes which leads to a new form of bacteria that turns sugar in fuel. The sugar can already can be transformed to a fuel called ethanol through fermentation and the problem is that is very hard to convert it into hydrocarbons. Although ethanol is here to replace gasoline, it can’t do that because it’s highly corrosive, is not energy dense and it would replace only a small percentage of gasoline.
