Q: Could We Use Carbon Monoxide to Fuel Our Cars?

A: Maybe.  Eventually.  Probably not for a long time.

 

ABC News has coverage on a very cool breakthrough in alternative fuels research.  Full story HERE.

 

Scientists have known for a long time that Vanadium Nitrogenase - an enzyme in soybeans - is really important for agriculture.  The soybean plant uses it to grab nitrogen out of the air and turn it into ammonia, which is a key ingredient for plant growth.

 

Markus Ribbe, a professor at UC Irvine, has discovered that when you give the enzyme carbon monoxide (CO) instead of Nitrogen (N2) it makes light hydrocarbons like methane and propane (the fuel that lights your grill) instead of ammonia (NH4).

 

From this very simple discovery, you could envision a whole host of new technologies.  For example, your car could use its own exhaust (rich with CO) to make new fuel.  We'll call it the enzymatic converter.

 

This type of  technology is way, way far away.  First, we'll have to figure out how to make an industrial supply of the enzyme.  Then, we'll have to to optimize the enzyme to make lots of fuel or the exact fuel we want...this could entail directed growth (evolution) or genetic engineering.  Before any of that happens, we are going to have to understand how it all works so we can manipulate the rights parts of the enzyme.

 

Lots to do...scientists better get started.

 

To put this discovery in context, here is Caltech Professor Jonas Peters on when he heard the news:

 

Scientifically, the new function of vanadium nitrogenase is a "profound discovery," said Jonas Peters, a scientist at Cal Tech who said he nearly leapt from his chair when the results were announced at a recent conference.