Eco Factor: Fungus can answer fuel crisis with a faster way to produce diesel from plants.
Gliocladium Roseum, or simply “Magic Fungus” for researchers finding new ways to refill our fossil fuel reserves, is an organism which resides inside the Ulmo tree in the Patagonian rainforests. This amazing species of fungi is capable of producing “Myco-Diesel” from plant cellulose and that too without any kind of fermentation.
The traditional means to produce biodiesel from plant cellulose requires the plant cellulose to be converted to sugar initially and then ferment the sugar to produce fuel. This fungus however, can directly convert plant cellulose into useful fuel, which saves one production process. Scientists got to this amazing discovery accidentally. They found that when this diesel fuel fungus was exposed to potentially toxic antibiotics, it defended itself by generating some volatile gases. When these gases were examined, the scientists found that the organism made some gases rich in hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon derivatives.
If scientists are able to take this discovery into biofuel production, then they would be able to convert nearly 430 million tons of plant waste that is produced from farmlands each year around the world into useful fuel.
The Dark Side:
Unlike the sugar fermentation process, this fungus is not able to convert most of the cellulose into useful fuel. But scientists believe that some genetic manipulations could increase the yield.
Via: DailyMail
