Team:Victoria Wellington
Team
Victoria
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WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?
Fossil fuels are proving detrimental to our planet. We rely on them enormously as they source approximately 80% of our energy needs. The extraction and refinement of fossil fuels destroys our landscapes, pollutes our waterways and emits massive quantities of CO2 contributing to the global warming crisis.
It is now critical that we find alternative energy sources, and fast. Unfortunately, many of the available alternatives are either scarcely better for the environment or are economically inviable.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
A possible solution to this lies within the problem itself. Biodiesel production gives a by-product: glycerol. For every 100 pounds of biodiesel produced, approximately 10 pounds of crude glycerol is created. Purification of crude glycerol is expensive, so it is important that other means of utilisation can be found.
This might be a viable short-term option, but how about steering clear of biodiesel production altogether? Fortunately there are many environmentally-friendly ways of producing glycerol as well. Other glycerol production chains include the hydrolysis and transesterification of vegetable oils and animal fats.
BUILD A BATTERY
Using synthetic biology, the plan was to construct a battery, specifically an enzymatic fuel cell (EFC). As the name suggests, an EFC utilises enzymes as catalysts to oxidise fuel. Besides this, EFCs operate the same way as a regular fuel cell. Redox enzymes oxidise chemical energy at the anode and oxygen is reduced at the cathode, creating electric current.
With glycerol in mind as a fuel source, we researched current EFCs in literature. Our project transformed into improving upon an exisiting glycerol fuel cell. The next step in the process was to select and optimise the enzymes.
OPTIMISE OUR ENZYMES
We looked into various enzymes involved in the metabolism of glycerol. Our chosen enzymes included Formate Dehydrogenase, Diaphorase and Oxalate Decarboxylase. In addition to this we decided to use TEMPO, a stable nitroxy radical, to bypass various stages of glycerol metabolism.
The next step in the plan was to optimise our chosen enzymes. TEMPO functions best in basic conditions, therefore this was a key design consideration. Additionally, we wanted enzymes that were still able to function at high temperatures.
