7 October 2009

… Plants, algae that produce hydrocarbons

Plants and algae may be a source of green, renewable hydrocarbons that could replace the ancient, finite hydrocarbons in fossil fuels.

Some plants and algae produce hydrocarbons as a way to store carbon and energy, said Jackie Shanks, Iowa State University’s Manley R. Hoppe Professor of Chemical Engineering. And those hydrocarbons could create second-generation biofuels.

“These plants are capturing solar energy and creating something that’s chemically identical to petroleum,” Shanks said.

The problem is researchers do not know the exact structures, mechanisms, genetics, and metabolism of that conversion, she said.

Shanks and a team of researchers just won a four-year, $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Office of Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation to study the production of biological hydrocarbons.

The project will also support the research, training, and education of a number of post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students at Iowa State and the other universities. It will provide these young researchers with an opportunity to broaden their training experience with national and international collaborations.

Shanks said the researchers’ specific task is to isolate, characterize, and bioengineer a catalyst that creates the biological hydrocarbons.

Nikolau said the project will not address which plants or algae are the best producers of biological hydrocarbons or how to exploit the biological process. He said those studies would build on the discoveries of the current project.

Shanks said the research could lead to technologies that transform how they could produce liquid fuels.