February 2009 Archives
One specific area of research has been on the Agaricus bisporus mushroom strain (also known as portobello, table or button mushroom) by scientists at the University of Warwick in Denmark. Agaricus mushrooms are a specialized decomposer of wood, leaves, and organic litter that are frequently found in forest soil. Scientists at Warwick have been working hard to sequence the genome of this particular strain, and by doing so, hope to isolate the genes responsible for creating the decomposing enzymes, and synthesize them in the lab. Through the use of these enzymes, it would be possible to fully break down every part of a plant, from the corn stock to the corn cob, into a source of ethanol. Below is a picture of Agaricus bisporus.
Discovering efficient ways of breaking down plant material is key in managing global carbon in the ethanol industry. Rather than slashing and burning forests to create new crop regions, lands that are already in use can be tapped to their maximum capacity. Many farmers leave their agro-waste in the fields to rot, or burn it. All of this waste could be collected, and with the aid of mushroom enzymes, used as an inexpensive source of biofuel. This process would also reduce pollution and asthma created by smoke and soot. The Agaricus bisporus mushroom is currently grown on a global scale, so the infrastructure is already in place to produce significant amounts of the enzymes. Sequencing of the Agaricus bisporus genome could also lead to better cultivation techniques and yields, providing an economic boost to those who grow these edible mushrooms as a crop.
Exciting progress is also being made in the field of biodiesel. Scientists at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology have developed a cost effective and efficient means of producing biodiesel using the mushroom strain Metarhizium anisopliae. Production of biodiesel typically involves adding heat to a mixture of methanol, lye, and vegetable oil until esters are formed. This process can take up to several hours, causing a significant waste of energy. However, the scientists found that Metarhizium anisopliae produces an enzyme, known as lipase, which can bind the methanol to the oil without adding any heat. In order to synthesize biodiesel, the enzyme producing fungus is compacted into small pellets, and passed through a mixture of methanol and sunflower oil. Studies are still being done to determine how much energy this whole process can save.
In the search for fossil fuel alternatives, it is important that we keep an open mind. We have yet to discover the "perfect" energy source, and it should be our mission to search for and improve upon our current methods of energy generation. As the issue of global warming continues to stare us in the face, we are quickly realizing that nature has a precarious balance. Push that balance to far to any one side, and we may disrupt it entirely. The necessary steps we must take to maintain that balance require cooperation with the environment. Organisms in nature have, and always will be, linked by a give and take connection.
A symbiotic relationship between plants and fungi occurs naturally in the environment. The fungi help provide essential nutrients to the plant by breaking down soil components, while the plant provides sugars for the fungi. Perhaps it is possible for humans and fungi to create a similar relationship whereby we can mutually benefit each other. To learn more about how mushrooms work check out the Planet Earth video series produced by Sir David Attenborough available through Discovery Channel and stay tuned to Biomass Authority.
References:
Rowe, Aaron (Aug. 20, 2007). Fungi Make Biodiesel Efficiently at Room Temperature. Retrieved Feb. 24, 2009, from http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/08/fungi-make-biod.html
(July 19, 2007). Mushroom Genome Could Assist In Biofuel Production and Carbon Management. Green Car Congress, Retrieved Feb. 24, 2009, from http://www.greencarcongress.com /2007/07/mushroom-genome.html
(Nov. 08, 2008). Now, biofuel is mushrooming! . Retrieved Feb. 24, 2009, from http://www.commodityonline.com/news /Now-biofuel-is-mushrooming!-12630-3-1.html
Imagine taking a walk through the forest. It's a dimly lit, overcast day, and the ground is moist from days of raining. As you walk underneath the canopy, you spot something interesting on the ground. It's not a plant, and it's not an animal, but the brightly colored cap of a freshly sprouted mushroom. Most people's first instinct would be, "better stay back, it could be toxic." But if you happened to have a mycologist with you, you might realize that mushrooms like this are being explored on the cutting edge of bioremediation - being used to break down previously harmful materials like oil and plastic.
Most people aren't aware of what goes on underneath the surface when they find a mushroom. Mushrooms aren't like plants, a single mushroom does not constitute an entire organism. In fact, the mushroom itself is not even the body of the organism, it is the fruit. Like a strawberry or a watermelon, the mushroom merely carries the seeds (spores) that will disseminate out into the environment. The real organism is buried beneath the soil, comprised of a vast branching network of cells known as the mycelial network.
This mycelium is what decomposes organic compounds, returning nutrients to the soil and releasing CO2 for plants to breathe. As the mycelium (a single thread is known as a hyphae) spreads outward, it releases enzymes that break down long polymer chains into their basic subunits, such as sugars. These smaller molecules can then be absorbed through the hyphal walls. The interconnectedness of the mycelial network allows for both rapid break down of organics in soil, and also swift distribution of nutrients throughout the network. Mycelial colonies are extremely resistant to other micro-organisms, as well as physical damage. No particular area of the network is vital to another area, so if a section gets damaged, the network either sacrifices it, or works quickly to repair it. There is also no limit to how large these networks can grow. In fact, one of the largest organisms in the world is an underground mycelial mat spanning 2,400 acres (or 1665 football fields) in a forest of eastern Oregon. The mat is believed to be over 2,200 years old and a small sample is shown in a micrograph below.
The real magic of mushrooms and their mycelial networks are quickly being discovered. Mycologist Paul Stamets has been driving the field to new discoveries in bioremediation and antibiotics. The ability of mycelium to produce enzymes that break down long chains of hydrocarbons is unique. No other organism is as efficient at producing and distributing these enzymes than is mycelium. In fact, it is so efficient that a mycelial colony is capable of restoring soil saturated with oil and other hydrocarbons that are toxic to life-bearing condition.
In an experiment where bioremediation groups were tasked with reducing a pile of contaminated soil to a reusable state, Paul Stamets discovered a special strain of oyster mushroom that is highly efficient at breaking down the PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) found in oil and petroleum. It took merely four weeks for the mycelium to build its network, and overtake the contaminated soil. Large oyster mushrooms grew straight out of the dirt, some of the caps reaching sizes of 12 inches in diameter! This massive explosion of mushroom fruit bodies attracted innumerable amounts of flies and insects that could call the mound of dirt "home", and the previously contaminated soil became its own habitat. The coming of insects brought birds, the birds brought plant seeds, which were allowed to sprout and flourish after the mycelium had detoxified the soil and provided essential nutrients for grass to grow.
This breakthrough in myco-technology has many beneficial ramifications should they be pursued. Managing fossil fuel waste has been a huge topic of the environmental industry in recent years. Companies that burn fossil fuels stockpile waste until it has to be moved to another location, or buried in the ground, causing further contamination risks. Most fossil fuel wastes contain a significant amount of PAHs, a prime source of energy for mycelium. Mushrooms could be used to significantly decrease the toxicity of this waste by inoculating them with the proper mushroom strain. While this would still leave mineral contaminants such as arsenic, barium, and manganese, many of the PAH carcinogens could be removed by mycelium. In the search for sustainable energy and biomass fuels it is important to remember what can be done to reduce the impact of current fuels on our environment, bioremediation is one alternative making a lot of headway.
In addition, many companies are beginning to utilize biodegradable plastics derived from corn starch and sugarcane. Biota bottled spring water is one great example of this. Their water bottles are made completely from corn which is fully compostable. For all compostable products mushroom mycelium is a great aid in the breakdown process. Not only does it catalyze the composting of these plastics, it can promote healthy soil at the composting sites, and produce mushrooms fruits that could be used for medicinal and culinary applications. In many dense city areas, it is quite difficult to find a region in which plastics biodegrade quickly. By introducing mushroom mycelium, the compost sites could be placed virtually anywhere, even indoors or underground, as mycelium does not require light to grow.
Other provocative discoveries by Stamets include a new type of biofiltration process known as mycofiltration, a fungal strain capable of wiping out termite and carpenter ant colonies, and strains that produce metabolites effective against human pathogens such as pox and flu viruses. Some of these strains grow naturally in old growth forests around the US, and Stamets has been able to get approval from the US Department of Defense to declare these forests national protected land areas as a matter of national defense.
While the mushroom may seem to be a bit mysterious, there appears to be at least one man asking the right question. What can this beautiful organism do for us? Be sure to tune in again for another way mushrooms can restore our planet Earth here at biomass authority!
References
Fungi Perfecti. Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009, from
www.fungi.com/mycotech
Stamets, Paul (2003). Mushroom Power. Retrieved Feb. 14 2009, from
http://www.futurenet.org/article.asp?id=597
I thought this was an intriguing product and did some research to find the best flex fuel conversion product on the market and I've come up with a few tips for you to follow as an FAQ on flex fuel conversion as follows:
Q: What is a flex-fuel, E85, or ethanol powered car?
A: Ethanol is basically alcohol which is most commonly made from corn or switchgrass. This substance can be used to power a combustion engine but there are certain requirements that must be met in order for your car to work with it.
- Your car must be fuel injected for a conversion kit to work
- You can't burn pure ethanol, the highest concentration is 85% and that's why it's called E85
- Unless you just bought a flex fuel ready car you have to adjust the computer in your car to sense the ethanol to gasoline ratio so the fuel injectors don't mess up your engine
Q: What does a flex fuel conversion kit do exactly?
A: They attach to the fuel injectors in your car and add a tiny computer that senses the fuel mixture and adjusts the output into your cylinders.
Q: Will converting my car to Ethanol hurt it at all?
A: This is a source of debate but many experts say that Ethanol (while slightly more acidic than gasoline) will not hurt your engine, in fact, most gas pumps are already mixing ethanol into your gasoline today and you might not have even know it! They just mix a much smaller percentage in such as 2%. Some people have even tried running their non flex fuel cars on E85 and reported favorable results. This may be due to newer cars having more sensitive fuel injector computers that, while not designed for E85, are still smart enough to adjust.
Now that we've covered a couple of the basic questions it is important to remind you that we here at Biomass Authority are only sharing tips and are not to be held responsible for the modification of any vehicle, consult the experts (who we are about to recommend) and ask your local mechanic! Shown below are a few of the different fuel injector plugs that come with a custom E85 conversion kit.
In our research on the web we found several flex fuel kits and companies championing the conversion cause. We even spotted a few on eBay. When all was said and done however, we came to realize that there is really only one solid company out there to recommend. We contacted three companies and only ever heard back from http://www.change2e85.com. We spoke directly with the founder (who has been in the business for several years) and we even ordered a kit for ourselves and had it arrive safely. While their website isn't quite as professional or slick as some that we've seen, their expertise knowledge of conversion and flex fuels is outstanding. Their kits are highly advanced and fairly reasonably priced. They are designed to work in colder climates (where E85 has been said to struggle with starting) and is easy to install and fit to your car.In conclusion, flex fuel conversion is an interesting project that could make your car more adaptable and afford you the opportunity to support locally grown US fuels. In our opinion, it doesn't hurt to update your car's fuel injector computers and if you ever run out of gas on that country road but you have a bottle of hard alcohol available, your car just might run on it with a kit like this! This could even be a survival strategy and certainly a benefit when fuel prices begin to rise again.
The one drawback I noticed is that E85 primarily only available in the midwest (where corn is grown) and for us Californian's flex fuel conversion kits are illegal because they modify the emissions of your vehicle. Even though this modification is for the better, it is not yet considered legal (although Arnold Schwarzenegger and other politicians are championing the cause). Every other state in the US allows flex fuel conversion kits. If you order a kit they will not ship to California so you might have get creative and collaborate with your relatives in Iowa for a redirect ;)
Good luck converting! Share your successes and tips here.
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