Eco Factor: New technology to generate biofuel using artificial photosynthesis.
Taking inspiration from nests of a semi-tropical frog called the Tungara frog, researchers at the University of Cincinnati have found a way to artificially create a photosynthetic material from foam which uses plant, bacterial, frog and fungal enzymes to produce sugars using solar energy and carbon dioxide.
Unlike natural photosynthesis, which isn’t quite efficient, this artificial process has been designed to convert all of the captured solar energy to sugars. While during natural photosynthesis carbon from the air, sugars from soil and energy from the sun are converted into sugars for the plant and oxygen for earth’s atmosphere, the newly developed process uses enzymes encased in foam to carry out photosynthesis and uses the sugars produced to make ethanol and other biofuels.
While researchers in other parts of the world are designing systems to use sunlight to split water into its constituent molecules, using it for biofuels could prove more efficient and economical.
Via: Gizmag
