WEBVTT - Can we make gasoline from bacteria?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff from how stuff works dot com where

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<v Speaker 1>smart Happens. Hi, I'm Marshall Brain with today's question, has

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<v Speaker 1>the impossible happened? Are we about to have gasoline and

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<v Speaker 1>diesel fuel produced by organisms rather than having to pump

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<v Speaker 1>it out of the ground as fossil fuels. Since late

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<v Speaker 1>last year, there have been a number of articles about

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<v Speaker 1>a company called Jewel Unlimited. That's j O U. L e.

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<v Speaker 1>As opposed to the Jewel in Jewelry. Here's what the

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<v Speaker 1>excitement is about. In August of two thousand ten, Jewel

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<v Speaker 1>Unlimited was granted a patent entitled Methods and Compositions for

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<v Speaker 1>the recombinent Biosynthesis of n Alkanes. Translating that title, gasoline

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<v Speaker 1>and diesel fuel are n alkanes. Rec Ombinent biosynthesis means

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<v Speaker 1>that they've taken bacteria or some other biological entity and

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<v Speaker 1>they've re engineered it so that it can better produce

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<v Speaker 1>in al kanes, and they've come up with the methods

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<v Speaker 1>to do that in a commercial sense. So if you

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<v Speaker 1>go to the website of Jewel Unlimited, you can find

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<v Speaker 1>this remarkable quote. This integrated commercial ready solution will enable

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<v Speaker 1>the previously unthinkable liquid hydrocarbons on demand, meaning above ground

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<v Speaker 1>fuel reserves can be deployed where needed, overcoming the extreme

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<v Speaker 1>risk and complexity of oil exploration and production. As a result,

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<v Speaker 1>jewels solution has industry changing potential across multiple markets that

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<v Speaker 1>derive products from petroleum, replacing a finite, unstable resource with

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<v Speaker 1>one that can sustain virtually unlimited production free of the

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<v Speaker 1>land and resource constraints that hinder biofuels. Jewel will directly

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<v Speaker 1>target fossil fuel replacement with unprecedented volumes of renewable diesel

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<v Speaker 1>at a fraction of the land use incurred by current methods.

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<v Speaker 1>At full scale production, the company projects delivery of up

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<v Speaker 1>to fifteen thousand gallons of diesel per acre annually at

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<v Speaker 1>costs as low as thirty dollars per barrel equivalent. Jewels

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<v Speaker 1>pilot operations are currently underway, with commercial development to begin

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<v Speaker 1>in two thousand twelve. End quote. It's an amazing quote. Really,

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<v Speaker 1>this is a commercial ready solution. According to the quote,

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<v Speaker 1>it's on demand production, it's virtually unlimited production, it's unprecedented volumes,

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<v Speaker 1>it's fifteen thousand gallons of diesel per acre, which is

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<v Speaker 1>unheard of, and it's as low as thirty dollars per

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<v Speaker 1>barrel equivalent. Even if the cost estimate is off by

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<v Speaker 1>a factor of two, it's still a huge win. That

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<v Speaker 1>would be diesel fuel at two dollars a gallon. It's

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<v Speaker 1>relatively easy to convert diesel to gasoline in an oil refinery.

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<v Speaker 1>But even if it weren't diesel fuel at thirty dollars

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<v Speaker 1>per barrel, prices would be so inexpensive that everybody would

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<v Speaker 1>quickly convert over to diesel cars, and all coal fired

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<v Speaker 1>power plants would convert to diesel as well. Fifteen thousand

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<v Speaker 1>gallons of diesel per acre annually is an amazing production rate.

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<v Speaker 1>An acre of corn yields only eighteen gallons of corn oil,

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<v Speaker 1>an acre of soybeans yields only forty eight gallons of

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<v Speaker 1>soybean oil. Fifteen thousand gallons per acre annually is just

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<v Speaker 1>so far outside that that it's almost unbelievable. How much

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<v Speaker 1>land are we talking about here? The United States burn

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<v Speaker 1>something like a hundred and thirty billion gallons of gasoline

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<v Speaker 1>every year. So if you take a hundred and thirty

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<v Speaker 1>billion and divide it by fifteen thousand gallons, you at

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<v Speaker 1>eight point six seven million acres That sounds like a

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<v Speaker 1>lot until you realize that there are forty seven million

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<v Speaker 1>acres of farmland in Kansas alone, just in Kansas, and

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<v Speaker 1>Kansas is the number three state in terms of farmland,

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<v Speaker 1>So there's lots and lots, like hundreds of millions of

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<v Speaker 1>acres of farmland in the United States, eight million acres

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<v Speaker 1>is a drop in the bucket. It would be easy

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<v Speaker 1>to replace all gasoline, diesel, and coal used in the

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<v Speaker 1>United States with this technology. You could, in theory, produce

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<v Speaker 1>all the gasoline you need in a suburban yard. If

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<v Speaker 1>a car gets twenty miles per gallon and it travels

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<v Speaker 1>twelve thousand miles per year, it consumes six hundred gallons

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<v Speaker 1>of gas per year. Less than two thousand square feet

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<v Speaker 1>of land would produce that much gasoline. Our world now

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<v Speaker 1>splits into two versions. And keep in mind that Jewel

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<v Speaker 1>Unlimited isn't the only company making these kinds of promises.

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<v Speaker 1>There are several other algae, bio you old companies that

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<v Speaker 1>are in the same realm. In the first version of

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<v Speaker 1>our world, there's a huge number of problems that are

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<v Speaker 1>now solved, everything from peak oil to oil spills, to

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<v Speaker 1>carbon emissions, and your carbon footprint. All of those things

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<v Speaker 1>are going to go away over the next couple of years,

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<v Speaker 1>and we no longer have to worry about them. We

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<v Speaker 1>still will have to do a lot of clean up

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<v Speaker 1>work in the global warming and climate change space, but

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<v Speaker 1>at least now it's imaginable inversion to something will go

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<v Speaker 1>tragically wrong and in two thousand twelve solutions like this

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<v Speaker 1>will suddenly and mysteriously disappear. Which version are you betting

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<v Speaker 1>on for more illness? And thousands of other topics? Doesn't

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