University of Maryland Researchers Discover New Biofuel-Producing Bacteria

Scientists from the University of Maryland have isolated several different strains of bacteria that make high concentrations of biofuels from cellulosic biomass or from carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas. These compounds are similar to components found in gasoline.

UM professor Rick Korn says that such organisms are common in nature. However, fuel doesn't accumulate in natural environment since it is thermodynamically favorable to make other products. When the products are made in nature, they are converted to other products by different organisms.

The scientist first identified conditions that favor production of the desired fuels and applied those conditions to mixed cultures of organisms taken from a cow's rumen. Eventually, using those favorable conditions, the fuel-producing bacteria were isolated.

Their article, entitled "Using the second law of thermodynamics for enrichment and isolation of microorganisms to produce fuel alcohols or hydrocarbons", is published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology.