Team:Victoria Wellington/Human Practices
Team
Victoria
Human Practices
What we investigated:
Project selection and literature review
The team started with a brainstorming exercise where each member proposed an idea related to an area of synthetic biology they were interested in. Each proposal was then developed further into a short presentation that was presented to our supervisors. A general theme emerged around environmental sustainability and the relative merits of each project was assessed. Finally a vote was cast and the team settled on the idea of building an Enzymatic fuel cell.
We started with a literature review of existing studies and previous energy related iGem projects we could potentially collaborate or expand on.
VUW SynBio
We launched a club website to showcase our project proposals, recruit new members and promote synthetic biology at Victoria University www.vuwsynbio.club. The website promoted our social media links and introduced the wider community to topical issues of sustainability and renewable energy. Via social media we were able to reach out to other iGEM teams for collaboration and make contact with individuals already working in the biotechnology space for guidance.
Clubs Week
At the beginning of the semester we ran an educational booth for university clubs week on campus. Over the week we introduced the topic of synthetic biology and biotechnology to hundreds of students on campus, spread awareness and answered questions from the wider student community. The clubs week was attended by senior government ministers and members of the New Zealand parliament as well as our local government representatives.
We made an educational brochure explaining synthetic biology to our audience and provided an introduction to our project proposal as well as discussing the many issues in New Zealand around the uses of genetically modified organisms.
Commercialization Workshop
In April we were invited to attend a two day commercialization workshop for graduate students sponsored by our universities business and commercialization company vicLink. The workshop focused on the business process required to take a technology to market and culminated in a presentation pitch to investors where we presented the value proposition of our project. We used the workshop to help identify what the viable use cases were for our fuel cell technology. It helped us understand the challenges of taking a technology out of the lab and to the market and the importance of taking into account the economic viability and use case for the technology we were working on from the beginning of our journey.
Interviews with Experts in the field
After attending the commercialization workshop we sort out advice from experts in the field with experience of the commercialisation of battery technology comparable to our proposed fuel cell. Particularly we wanted to understand why given the limitations of current technology the use of lithium ion batteries was so persuasive. Several of our interviewees stood out. Ash Sundarasen, (commercialization Manager at vicLink ) with first hand experience in bringing a new battery technology to market, emphasised the importance of needing a selling point beyond simply being a green technology. He talked about the dominance of lithium ion technology being the result of a 10 year head start over other technologies and the compounding effect caused by the amount of investment in infrastructure and manufacturing already committed to the technology.
This interview helped us realise the importance of being more than simply a sustainable alternative to lithium ion technology.
Dr Shalini Divya, ( battery technology researcher) Introduced us to her testing lab, She had recently returned from overseas where the university had funded a limited production run of an aluminum chemistry battery alternative she had developed in her lab. This interview helped us understand what metrics would be important in our fuel cell, how they would be tested and what to optimise our enzymes for.
Indigenous Involvement: Maori Perspectives
We ran a small survey with a group of Maori students and staff at the university to gain a look into an indigenous perspective. We thought this was important regarding sustainability as historically indigenous people have been the caretakers of the land and those values remain in the culture today. From the group that we surveyed the consensus was that genetic editing and synthetic biology would not be an issue unless it led to over harvest and irreversible damage to nature. With regard to resources, the philosophy is that you don’t want to steal and take more than need, you just want to know the secrets so you can use them in a way that benefits all.
Feasibility Study
Given what we had learned from interviews and with the help of our supervisors we put together a twelve question review of enzymatic fuel cell technology and presented a series of presentations to the wider team with our findings. The questions answered covered topics such as.
- The advantages / disadvantages over other batteries.
- The best fuel selection.
- Economic use case.
- Electrode material design.
- Alternative oxidation pathways.
- What factors were key to optimize in the enzymes we chose ( stability over kinetics ).
It became clear that glycerol on a price per potential kilowatt output of energy offered advantages over other sugars and fats as a fuel source. A more simplified full oxidation pathway was also available for glycerol over selected suggars. Commonly available carbon electrodes could also be used with the aid of a chemical catalyst for electron transfer.
Contact with local Energy Companies
We reached out to the energy company behind the only biodiesel plant in New Zealand. After some informal discussions we learned about their production process and commercial challenges they face in bringing a biodiesel product to the market. We also further researched the global issues and challenges with finding a market for crude glycerol. We asked for a sample of the Z-energy crude product and assessed its viability for use in our fuel cell. We discovered that the chemical properties of the crude glycerol product could lend them self to our proposed use case in an Enzymatic fuel cell. The enzymes we were optimizing could be used in the relatively high Ph conditions and high Methanol content of the crude glycerol product. The evidence we gathered suggested that there was a potential value stream worth further exploring and that our project could be taken further
Climate Change Protest
In September along with our Vice-chancellor, The School of Biological Sciences, an estimated 40,000 other local residents and members of our team joined a peaceful march to parliament buildings in our nation's capital. The march was held in support of greater action and awareness of climate change.
Presenting our Research
We presented at a conference in Australia.
How our work is responsible?
New Zealand has some of the strictest laws and regulations governing the use of genetic modification in the world. Release into the environment of any genetically modified organisms without approval is highly regulated and approval only granted on a case by case basis after a lengthy public consultation process.
The current GMO regulations limit the practical use outside the lab of most genetically modified organisms as public opinion may not always be aligned with the scientific community.
When looking for biotechnology solutions to environmental problems our team had to be mindful not only of what could work but also what would be acceptable to the New Zealand public under New Zealand law.
We couldn't pursue options that involved the use of modified biological organisms in the natural environment. This meant that using a microbial fuel cell or engineering a new e coli strain that would grow outside the laboratory would not be responsible or acceptable under New Zealand laws. We had to ensure our project was designed so that only the enzyme products of the organisms we used were required and the fuel cell we were proposing to build would not breach any laws regarding the use of GMO in New Zealand.
We all had to undergo full PC2 training before starting the project and all our work had to be conducted in the PC2 certified labs under strict quarantine procedures.
We also had to be mindful of the indigenous perspective on the native species and ecosystem of New Zealand that could be affected by our project. This was a contributing factor to why we chose an enzymatic fuel cell as opposed to a microbial fuel cell, as this had less risk of negatively impacting the environment.
It is important as scientists that we did not take for granted public perception or assume any right over the genetic organisms we might collect or chose to evolve in the lab for out advantage. Our project steered clear of issues around bioprospecting using only well developed strains of microbes we already had access to in the lab and genetic parts for the iGem registry.
How is our work good for the world?
Introduce the issue (Z energy specific)
Many countries around the world are attempting to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. While there are no simple solutions to this complex problem the production of biodiesel made from renewable plant or animal based sources is seen as one of many viable options.
In New Zealand with almost one fifth of the countries greenhouse gas emissions coming from transport Z-energy set out to build the country's first commercial scale biodiesel plant in Auckland, New Zealand.
In New Zealand the Wiri plant was designed to produce biodiesel from tallow (a low grade animal fat) purchased locally from the dairy industry. However since the plants completion in 2016 tallow prices have continued to increase, the lower value of the New Zealand dollar and introduction of overseas subsidies (designed to promote biofuels usage) have resulted in more lucrative markets for the raw materials overseas.
Adversely the main by-product of biodiesel (crude glycerol) has become almost worthless. With biodiesel production increasing globally, approximately 1 liter of crude glycerol is produced for every 10 liters of biodiesel.
While refined food grade glycerol has many valuable uses the cost of refining the crude waste product is high, and often uneconomic. There is a danger that the large amount of crude glycerol globally produced from the biodiesel industry becomes an environmental problem.
For biodiesel plants like our local New Zealand plant to be successful a value stream for the crude waste products they produce needs to be found.
Our project presents an economically viable solution for electricity generation transport and storage using an otherwise waste product from the biodiesel industry.
What we learned
The economics of biodiesel production are complex but can be modeled. Sadly the biggest influencing factor in the viability of biodiesel production is still global crude oil prices. Other contributing factors are the price of feed stock (tallo or vegetable oils) followed by the market for crude glycerol. As these prices all fluctuate considerably production plants are often forced to close or cease production. Only now that oil prices have more recently begun to rise again are biodiesel plants being recommissioned across the Asia pacific region.
Other than crude oil prices a major influencing factor in the viability of biodiesel production is government policy. In most jurisdictions around the world taxation is a significant component of fuel prices. The availability of carbon credits for biofuel use and road tax exemptions are generally needed to make an economic use case for biodiesel production.