Geobacter bacteria clean up nuclear waste and generate biodiesel & electricity

Researchers from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst have recently engineered Geobacter metallireducens, a bacterium that can feed with hydrogen and carbon dioxide to produce electricity. 

 Geobacter metallireducens
“This represents the first result of current production solely on hydrogen,” says Amit Kumar, who worked with Derek Lovely, the scientist who first isolated Geobacter metallireducens 26 years ago, in the Potomac River.

Geobacter species are of interest because of their bioremediation, bioenergy potential, novel electron transfer capabilities, the ability to transfer electrons outside the cell and transport these electrons over long distances via conductive filaments known as microbial nanowires.

By studying a relative of Geobacter metallireducens called Geobacter sulfurreducens, Kumar and the team produced electricity by having the bacteria reduce organic carbon compounds with a graphite electrode like iron oxide or gold to serve as the only electron receptor. The bacteria they chose for engineering did not have the need for carbon to grow in a microbial fuel cell.

Allison Speers, MSU graduate student, works on a fuel cell that can eliminate biodiesel producers' hazardous wastes and dependence on fossil fuels. Image by Kurt Stepnitz.

MSU microbiological Gemma Reguera, a co-author on the study, developed patented adaptive-engineered bacteria called Geobacter sulfurreducens. Geobacter are naturally occurring microbes that have proved promising in cleaning up nuclear waste and in improving other biofuel processes.

“Geobacter shield themselves from uranium by producing hair-like filaments that attract and bind the uranium very strongly,” Reguera said. “The bacterial hairs are fully charged with electricity, just like a live electrical wire, and zap the uranium. And what happens next is simple chemistry - the soluble, dangerous uranium is immobilised onto the wires as a mineral. This prevents its spread and protects us from exposure.”

Reguera, along with lead authors and MSU graduate students Allison Speers and Jenna Young, evolved Geobacter to withstand increasing amounts of toxic glycerol. They then searched for partner bacteria that could ferment it into ethanol while generating by-products that ‘fed’ the Geobacter.

“It took some tweaking, but we eventually developed a robust bacterium to pair with Geobacter,” Reguera said. “We matched them up like dance partners, modifying each of them to work seamlessly together and eliminate all of the waste.

“[The bacteria] feast like they’re at a Las Vegas buffet. One bacterium ferments the glycerol waste to produce bioethanol, which can be re-used to make biodiesel from oil feedstocks. Geobacter removes any waste produced during glycerol fermentation to generate electricity. It is a win-win situation.”

Image courtesy of Gemma Reguera.
The microbes are the featured component of Reguera’s microbial electrolysis cells, or MECs. These fuel cells do not harvest electricity as an output - rather, they use a small electrical input platform to generate hydrogen and increase the MEC’s efficiency even more.
Through a Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization grant, Reguera and her team are now developing prototypes that can handle larger volumes of waste. She is also in talks with MBI, an enterprise operated by the MSU Foundation, to develop industrial-sized units that could handle the capacities of a full-scale biodiesel plant.
“Traditional approaches see producers pay hefty fees to have toxic wastewater hauled off to treatment plants,” Reguera said. “By cleaning the water with microbes on-site, we’ve come up with a way to allow producers to generate bioethanol, which replaces petrochemical methanol. At the same time, they are taking care of their hazardous waste problem.”

Read more: http://sustainabilitymatters.net.au/content/energy/article/microbes-to-clean-up-nuclear-waste-and-generate-biodiesel-995091874#ixzz4LnTvPgPp

மின்மோட்டார் மூலம் மின்சாரம் உருவாக்கி மரவியாபாரி நாதன் சாதனை

Fungi recycle rechargeable lithium-ion batteries

The fungi Aspergillus niger (top left), Penicillium simplicissimum (top right) and Penicillium chrysogenum (bottom) can recycle cobalt and lithium from rechargeable batteries.

Credit: Aldo Lobos

 Although rechargeable batteries in smartphones, cars and tablets can be charged again and again, they don't last forever. Old batteries often wind up in landfills or incinerators, potentially harming the environment. And valuable materials remain locked inside. Now, a team of researchers is turning to naturally occurring fungi to drive an environmentally friendly recycling process to extract cobalt and lithium from tons of waste batteries.

The fungi Aspergillus niger (top left), Penicillium simplicissimum (top right) and Penicillium chrysogenum (bottom) can recycle cobalt and lithium from rechargeable batteries.

The team first dismantles the batteries and pulverizes the cathodes. Then, they expose the remaining pulp to the fungus. "Fungi naturally generate organic acids, and the acids work to leach out the metals," Cunningham explains. "Through the interaction of the fungus, acid and pulverized cathode, we can extract the valuable cobalt and lithium. We are aiming to recover nearly all of the original material."

http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/120078.php

World's earliest Battery

This Jar like device is the world's earliest record of Battery “The Parthian Battery” invented by the Iranians as early as 250 BC. In a dramatic excavation by the German Archaeologist Wilhelm Konig three intact jars dating back to the Parthian empire were discovered; later reconstructions and testing of this ancient device in western laboratories has revealed that when the jar of the battery was filled with vinegar (or other electrolytes) it was capable of generating between 1.5-2.0 volts; this pill, according to the expert who studies it, was used for electropolating; the pill is also more commonly known as the Baghdad Battery because it was discovered in vicinity of Baghdad city, the Ancient capital of the Iranian Parthian empire; (Bagh-dad itself is a Persian word meaning God-given)

Batteries of Babylon
"In 1938, Dr. Wilhelm Kong, an Austrian archaeologist rummaging through the basement of the museum made a find that was to drastically alter all concepts of ancient science. A 6-inch-high pot of bright yellow clay dating back two millennia contained a cylinder of sheet-copper 5 inches by 1.5 inches. The edge of the copper cylinder was soldered with a 60-40 lead-tin alloy comparable to today's best solder. The bottom of the cylinder was capped with a crimped-in copper disk and sealed with bitumen or asphalt. Another insulating layer of asphalt sealed the top and also held in place an iron rod suspended into the center of the copper cylinder. The rod showed evidence of having been corroded with acid. With a background in mechanics, Dr. Konig recognized this configuration was not a chance arrangement, but that the clay pot was nothing less than an ancient electric battery. The ancient battery in the Baghdad Museum as well as those others which were unearthed in Iraq all date from the Parthian Persian occupation between 248 B.C. and A.D. 226. However, Konig found copper vases plated with silver in the Baghdad Museum excavated from Sumerian remains in southern Iraq dating back to at least 2500 B.C. When the vases were lightly tapped a blue patina or film separated from the surfaces, characteristic of silver electroplated to copper. It would appear then that the Persians inherited their batteries from the earliest known civilization in the Middle East."^[1]I
"
 

Scientific awareness
More than 60 years after their discovery, the batteries of Baghdad - as there are perhaps a dozen of them - are shrouded in myth.
"The batteries have always attracted interest as curios," says Dr Paul Craddock, a metallurgy expert of the ancient Near East from the British Museum.
"They are a one-off. As far as we know, nobody else has found anything like these. They are odd things; they are one of life's enigmas."
No two accounts of them are the same. Some say the batteries were excavated, others that Konig found them in the basement of the Baghdad Museum when he took over as director. There is no definite figure on how many have been found, and their age is disputed.
Most sources date the batteries to around 200 BC - in the Parthian era, circa 250 BC to AD 225. Skilled warriors, the Parthians were not noted for their scientific achievements.
"Although this collection of objects is usually dated as Parthian, the grounds for this are unclear," says Dr St John Simpson, also from the department of the ancient Near East at the British Museum.
"The pot itself is Sassanian. This discrepancy presumably lies either in a misidentification of the age of the ceramic vessel, or the site at which they were found."
Underlying principles
In the history of the Middle East, the Sassanian period (circa AD 225 - 640) marks the end of the ancient and the beginning of the more scientific medieval era.
Though most archaeologists agree the devices were batteries, there is much conjecture as to how they could have been discovered, and what they were used for.
How could ancient Persian science have grasped the principles of electricity and arrived at this knowledge?
Perhaps they did not. Many inventions are conceived before the underlying principles are properly understood.
The Chinese invented gunpowder long before the principles of combustion were deduced, and the rediscovery of old herbal medicines is now a common occurrence.
You do not always have to understand why something works - just that it does.

Ancient electricity, Dendera Lightbulb

Ancient electricity, Dendera light bulb. Scientists suggested that is a bulb, with two arms reaching into it near its thick end, and a sort of cable at the other end, the snake represented the filament, the djed pillar was an insulator, and the tube was an ancient electric light bulb.

Wireless Energy Transfer via coupling induction.

Introduction

Wireless Power transfer  was first demonstrated by Nikola Tesla in the 1890s, however it is only really in the last decade that the technology has been harnessed to the point where it offers real, tangible benefits to real world applications.  In particular, the development of resonant wireless power technology for the Consumer Electronics market, has seen wireless charging deliver new levels of convenience for the charging of millions of everyday devices.

Wireless Power is commonly known by many terms, including Inductive Power Transfer (IPT), Inductive Coupling and Resonant Power Transfer. Each these terms essentially describe the same fundamental process – the transmission of energy from a power source to an electrical load, without connectors, across an air gap.  The basis of a wireless power system involves essentially two coils – a transmitter and receiver coil.  The transmitter coil is energized by alternating current to generate a magnetic field, which in turn induces a current in the receiver coil.

How does Wireless Power work?

The basics of wireless power involves the transmission of energy from a transmitter to a receiver via an oscillating magnetic field.

To achieve this, Direct Current (DC) supplied by a power source, is converted into high frequency Alternating Current (AC) by specially designed electronics built into the transmitter.

The alternating current energizes a copper wire coil in the transmitter, which generates a magnetic field.  Once a second (receiver) coil is placed within proximity of the magnetic field, the field can induce an alternating current in the receiving coil.

Electronics in the receiving device then converts the alternating current back into direct current, which becomes usable power.

The diagram below simplifies this process into four key steps.

1. The ‘mains’ voltage is converted in to an AC signal (Alternating Current), which is then sent to the transmitter coil via the electronic transmitter circuit.
2. The AC current flowing through the transmitter coil induces a magnetic field which can extends to the receiver coil (which lies in relative proximity)
3. The magnetic field then generates a current which flows through the coil of the receiving device. The process whereby energy is transmitted between the transmitter and receiver coil is also referred to as magnetic or resonant coupling and is achieved by both coils resonating at the same frequency. Current flowing within the receiver coil is converted into direct current (DC) by the receiver circuit, which can then be used to power the devic

What is meant by “Resonance”?

The distance at which the energy can be transferred is increased if the transmitter and receiver coils are resonating at the same frequency.

This resonant frequency refers to the frequency at which an object naturally vibrates or rings – much like the way a tuning fork rings at a particular frequency and can achieve their maximum amplitude.

Benefits of Wireless Power

• Reduce costs associated with maintaining direct connectors (like those in the tradtional slip ring).
• Greater convenience for ​the charging of everyday electronic devices
• Safe​ power transfer to applications that need to remain sterile or hermetically sealed
• Electronics can be fully enclosed, reducing the risk of corrosion due to elements such as oxygen and water.
• ​Robust and consistent power delivery to rotating, highly mobile industrial equipment​
• ​Delivers reliable power transfer to mission critical systems in wet, dirty and moving environments.

Whatever the application, the removal of the physical connection delivers a number of benefits over traditional cable connectors, some of which aren’t always obvious.  The video below highlights just some of the benefits and advantages of wireless power and offers an insight into a world where wireless power is widely integrated into industrial and mission critical environments.

Thanks http://powerbyproxi.com/wireless-power/

Hybrid Cars

Infographic: How Does a Hybrid Car Engine Actually Work?

Rated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at 51 mpg in the city and 48 mpg on the highway, the Toyota Prius has long been one of the most popular hybrid cars in the United States. We know about hybrid cars and their impressive sales over the past several years, but how do they actually work? Just what is it inside of that car that allows it to get much better mileage -- something we all want, especially in the summer when gas prices, it seems, are always climbing -- than traditional vehicles?

AutoMD has put together the infographic embedded below in an attempt to help shed a little light on how hybrid engines function. Focusing on the third generation of the Toyota Prius, which debuted in 2010, AutoMD covers the various components and explains how they all work together.

Infographics are always a bit of a hodgepodge of statistics culled from a variety of sources. Here, we sort through the clutter and pull out some of our favourite facts and figures:

• The price of gas is a major reason why sales of green cars, including hybrids, are expected to increase four times by 2016.
• Seventy-five per cent of those who say they would consider a hybrid car cite lower fuel costs as the main reason.
• The Toyota Prius, the world's most popular hybrid car, uses a combination of an internal combustion engine and a battery-electric drive system to increase fuel economy and reduce emissions.
• When pulling away from a stop, the electric motor powers the car, drawing on the battery for power. Up to 15 mph, the vehicle uses only the electric motor for power. This is one of the reasons why hybrids are more efficient during city driving than on the highway.
• During normal cruising, only the gasoline engine is used because this is when it is most efficient. During cruising, the gasoline engine can also power the generator, which produces electricity and stores it in the batteries for later use.
• During heavy acceleration, both the gasoline engine and the electric motor work together to increase power to the wheels. The joint effort of the engine and motor working together is only possible because of the power-split transmission, which combines the torque that each one puts out. At this time, the gasoline engine also powers the generator. The electric motor uses electricity from the battery and the generator as needed.
• The Prius reaches 51 mpg in the city and 48 mpg on the highway.
• The Toyota Prius emits 71 per cent less CO2 than a Hummer H3, and 20 per cent less methane gas than an adult sheep.
• The Volkswagen diesel L1 concept car is due to hit the market in 2013 and will be the most fuel-efficient hybrid. The L1 could make it from New York City to Los Angeles on just 11.8 gallons of fuel. It can travel 100 km on a single litre of fuel, which translates to 235 mpg. 
• thanks http://www.theatlantic.com/technology