Enzyme Bio-Battery Runs on Ethanol 199
mpthompson writes "According to this article at New Scientist.com substantial progress is being made on enzyme-catalyzed ethanol based batteries to run cell phones and laptops. Such batteries promise to be cheaper, safer and less toxic than previously demonstrated methanol based fuel cells."
Finally! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Finally! (Score:2, Funny)
Oh, wait...
I have a question about fuel cells (Score:2)
I am guessing the ethanol is 'consumed' by the fuel cell and the energy that is released by the process is available to power your laptop (et.al)
Does replentishing the ethanol provide the fuel cell with a full charge, or does the fuel cell still need to be recharged by the proper application of electricity?
If adding ethanol removes the need to plug it in (ever) to recharge t
Re:I have a question about fuel cells (Score:2)
So, between this technology and Intel's new overclock-prevention technology, are we giong to have some sort of computer cops pulling over laptops?
"Do you know how fast you were going back there, Sparky? Whoa! What's that I smell? Step out of the car, please. I'm going to need yo
Re:Finally! (Score:2)
Hmmm... (Score:4, Funny)
"A charge for you, and a blast for me."
EFGearman
Re:Hmmm... (Score:3, Funny)
The major problem of the next year may well be... (Score:5, Interesting)
We all know that the enzymes hate heat - that is, they get denatured by heat. From what I feel on my lap when a laptop was put on it, I really wonder how do something as sensitive as enzyme withstand the working temperature of a computer (I guess that'll be one of the application, from the article).
When you shrink that (from the article, they are going to.), the problem goes even more wild...
Re:The major problem of the next year may well be. (Score:5, Informative)
There is a whole industry [altus.com] based on developing crosslinked enzyme crystals which are useful in industrial applications as catalysts. The crystals are literally poured out of plastic bottles as a powder and many can function in organic solvents (which would completely denature ordinary enzymes). The cross-linking holds together the overall tertiary structure of the enzyme, and the enzyme tends to hang onto water where it needs it to maintain secondary structure.
I don't know exactly how thermally stable they are, but I imagine they can take quite a bit. While the technology probably hasn't been applied to the enzymes in question I imgaine that if the money was there it could be done.
Re:The major problem of the next year may well be. (Score:2, Interesting)
Moreover, the cross-linked enzyme crystals are able to withstand organic solvents but they are not that heat-stable - and if they are overheated, we can just hope that they don't go denatured, but their specificity to temperature will not change, i.e. Power goes down when temperature goes up or down, ooops....
Some industrial enzymes are from "hot" bacteria (Score:2)
I recall that there has been quite a bit of work being done to industralize the enzymes from the bacteria that grow in sulphur mudpots in places like Yosemite, and to understand what makes them t
Re:Some industrial enzymes are from "hot" bacteria (Score:2, Funny)
You obviously haven't tried a P4 laptop out recently.
Re:The major problem of the next year may well be. (Score:2)
Well, assuming perfect catalysis, no denaturation/degradation, this is true, but those aren't necessarily good assumptions. (Textbook simplified definition vs. real life behavior). In living things, proteins get made and destroyed all the time. I don't really know much about the system they're using here, but even though it should be a lot less complex than the cellular environment, things are still going to degrade over time. Diamonds aren
Re:The major problem of the next year may well be. (Score:4, Informative)
There are other enzymes that tolerate boiling, and other extreme conditions. They are inactive in the severe condition, but have such a stable tertiary structure that they snap right back when put into the proper environment again. Mammalian RNAses are notorious for this.
From the article, however, the restriction of the enzymes to these pockets may help. For those that don't know, enzymes have a structure like a ribbon (or several ribbons) that fold back on themselevs in a particular way. By thermodynamics, as you add heat, you add entropy and the ribbon moves around too much to stay in its functional orientation.
Keeping the enzyme in a small, restrictive pocket may restrict its random motion enough to help keep the ribbon from unfolding, allowing the enzyme to function at a higher temperature than it normally would.
Re:The major problem of the next year may well be. (Score:2, Informative)
When it comes to laptop, we need a stable power supply.. who wants a supply that only work in 20oC < x < 40oC (the actual margin may well be stricter)...
but a Li-Ion backup will fix this...wait.. isn't that a big weight added on it.
Re:The major problem of the next year may well be. (Score:2)
More info here:
http://www.wileyeurope.com/cda/cover/0,,0471499
</karmawhore>
What about a mixer? (Score:2, Funny)
Seriously, this has been a long time coming, and yes there have been a few other Slashdot stories about ethanol powered batteries. I would love to get a hold of a laptop that runs for hours on end on grain alcohol.
Re:What about a mixer? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, until you try to sneak it onto an expense report:
Taxi - $28.00
Meal @ airport - $11.45
Hotel - $85.00
Eight bottles of gin - $65.00
Something tell me that Wanda over in Accounting isn't goint to think that eight bottles of sauce looks quite so "great."
On the other hand, this may be the only case where conspicious consumption of alcohol is a justification for a promotion. "Gosh, boss, look at all these empty bottles! That's two more bottles than last week, don'cha think I deserve a raise?!?"
Now if only someone would invent edible CDs...
Re:What about a mixer? (Score:2)
"Finally I can integrate two of my handhelds..."
mm.....alcoholic batteries (Score:2, Funny)
How much safer? (Score:3, Insightful)
On another note, what else can it do?
Re:How much safer? (Score:2)
Re:How much safer? (Score:2)
Me: 'Rum & Coke, unmixed. I want the coke, my machine wants the rum.'
Steward: 'Sir, you're under 21.'
Me: 'IT'S FOR THE COMPUTER, I SWEAR!'
Re:How much safer? (Score:2)
No alchohol based fuel cell is going to be banned based on the fuel source! The amount of fuel it will take to power your laptop even on the longest of flights is less than the lush sitting next to you will be drinking. Besides we allow Butane lighters which have a much more volatile fuel in them aboard and they are intentionally designed to ignite the contents. I really, really wish the Slashdot crowd would get it's collective arse out of their head on this one.
Re:How much safer? (Score:2)
Re:How much safer? (Score:2)
It says: An "open alcoholic beverage container" is any bottle, can, or other receptacle that contains any amount of alcoholic beverage, and that is open or has a broken seal, or the contents of which are partially removed.
Anyway, it was originally supposed to be a joke, albeit not the laugh-out-loud
Re:How much safer? (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, new planes will soon have power on all seats. The only reason that they don't is that they can currently get people to pay for business-class upgrades in order to get juice. All new 777's have individual LCD monitors for each seat in coach class, a couple years ago, you had to crane your neck in order to see the in-flight movie. It will take a while, but as soon as one airli
Buzz (Score:1, Funny)
Wrong Dept. (Score:1, Funny)
Can't you just see stressed out managers popping out the battery, tossing down a shot, and plugging it back in?
This isn't news (Score:5, Funny)
Ethanol powered phones have been arround for decades.
I have talked to God on the porcelin telephone many times.
Re:This isn't news (Score:2)
sometimes he was interesting things to say like why are there always carrots in there...
Re:This isn't news (Score:2)
Re:This isn't news (Score:2)
Rich
Re:This isn't news (Score:2)
or bad mushrooms.
i also run... (Score:2, Interesting)
"yes I'd like to buy some everclear for my 'er laptop" *hic
Cheaper? Only because of the war on drugs (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Cheaper? Only because of the war on drugs (Score:2)
As for the hemp, let us grow hemp and use it to get stoned! At least we won't buy it from drug dealers. But that's off-topic...
Re:Cheaper? Only because of the war on drugs (Score:2)
And nobody is asking you to drink the stuff. Besides, ethanol is toxic too... close to 50,000 people die from its ingestion every year.
How many people die from methanol ingestion?
Re:Cheaper? Only because of the war on drugs (Score:2)
Re:Cheaper? Only because of the war on drugs (Score:2)
This makes perfect sense... (Score:5, Funny)
"We have actually run our cells off vodka and gin."
That's kept Liza Minelli running for close to sixty years, no reason it can't run my laptop for a few hours.
-----
Re:This makes perfect sense... (Score:2, Funny)
Olde Fortran malt liquor, was it?
Re:This makes perfect sense... (Score:2, Funny)
Bender: I don't NEED to drink. I can give it up any time I want!
use hydrogen fuel cells (Score:2)
use hydrogen fuel cells in the cars, and you will take care of the pollution problem.
Re:use hydrogen fuel cells (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, nuclear power is incredibly expensive.
Other than that, good idea.
Re:use hydrogen fuel cells (Score:2, Interesting)
As for those batteries, I wonder what will be more efficient: My wood fired steam power plant (2kW, under construction) or farming some grain or plant that can be easily conver
Re:use hydrogen fuel cells (Score:3, Informative)
use hydrogen fuel cells in the cars, and you will take care of the pollution problem.
Actually, the best way of producing hydrogen isn't electrical. You catalyse a hydrocarbon into (usually) hydrogen and CO2. The CO2 production is very small and can be easily captured and recycled in processes that require CO2 as an input (eg photo
Biotech Ethanol (Score:4, Interesting)
Novozymes Biotech [novozymesbiotech.com] in Davis, California is selectively breeding better enzymes for converting the cellulose in corn by-products to fermentable sugars. Who knows, maybe some day Kansas will power your calls.
Re:Biotech Ethanol (Score:3, Funny)
Toto, I don't think we are using non-biodegradable power sources anymore....
So will they last longer? (Score:2, Interesting)
Bio-engineering (Score:5, Interesting)
Now excuse me, my fuel cell needs a shot and then it wants to go to the bathroom.
Re:Bio-engineering (Score:3, Interesting)
The thing that keeps living systems living is that they have mechanisms in place to repair themselves. From what the article said, no self-regenerating systems are in place in the fuel cell. They're counting on the original build to last. Your horse lives so many years and walks so many miles because it can regenerate damaged muscles. Unless the fuel cell were equipped with the enzyme's gene and the machinery to translate the information in the gene into newly synthesized enzyme, this fuel cell will not
hamster power (Score:2)
Well, so the solution to our laptop power problems is easy: get a hamster, a wheel, and a little generator. That biological generator runs on lettuce, food pellets, or, in a pinch, airline food (not recommended for long term power generation because it may damage the generator), and it produces mostly carbon dioxide and some (hopefully) solid waste.
Re:Bio-engineering (Score:2)
Not to mention that the waste products of horses don't conveniently blow away in the wind.
horse pollution (Score:3, Interesting)
Scientists Choose Ethanol (Score:3, Funny)
Customs (Score:2)
Rus
How about..... (Score:3, Insightful)
Ok, great, now how about Last Longer? Especially Laptop batteries, I can't seem to keep a charge on any of them. They all seem to degarde rather fast.
Virtual Beer-Goggles? (Score:2)
A possible end to crop subsidies? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, not to drink, you lushes. It would mean that there would be a new demand for vegetable crops, Corn in particular. While the DoA is one of the most corrupt branches of our government, one can't help but think that a new demand for corn in the form of a non-perishable liquid would cut the amount of money currently being used for subsidies.
An ethanol economy is not quite as desirable as a hyrdrogen economy, but it can still be very good.
Re:A possible end to crop subsidies? (Score:2)
Re:A possible end to crop subsidies? (Score:2, Insightful)
Even if there's a bio-engineered virus that targets your specific species of corn, you can always switch to a different variety or even a different vegetable. Having a diverse plant population would not only make diseases or natural disasters less effective, it would also limit the effectiveness of terrorism.
Re:A possible end to crop subsidies? (Score:2)
Well... (Score:2)
Worry about real threats, not super-terrorists hiding under the mattress.
Re:A possible end to crop subsidies? (Score:2)
Re:A possible end to crop subsidies? (Score:2)
Oil would be easier to attack, its much more plausible to attack a few hundred wellheads than 10,000 square miles of farmland.
DoA? How about the BATF? (Score:2, Insightful)
Department of Agriculture? That's nothing.
Do you REALLY want your laptop regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF)? (Maybe with a little assistance from the FBI and the National Guard?)
I can see it now: Some kids are holding a LAN party. A sniper takes out the dogs in the yard. Then cattle cars full of ninja-suited jackbooted thugs pull up, blocking the view of the front door from the tipped-off press he
Re:A possible end to crop subsidies? (Score:2, Funny)
I would imagine you could find at least a billion people who desire an ethanol economy over a hydrogen economy, and they seem to think it is very good.
Re:A possible end to crop subsidies? (Score:2)
Yeah, but an ethanol economy won't make my voice sound like Mickey Mouse (tm).
Can you imagine singing the Munchkin song using hydrogen? You'd be calling dogs and dolphins for miles.
obdef: Munchkin song: Song sang by the "Lollipop Guild" to Dorothy when she landed in Oz.
Re:A possible end to crop subsidies? (Score:2)
Cost (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Cost (Score:2, Interesting)
There'd have to some law changes to avoid having to pay the taxes associated with buying consumable alcohol. Using ethanol in the chem lab is pricy.
Maybe that's one of the reasons why spirits not meant for consumption have added stuff that makes you vomit if you drink it?
Re:Cost (Score:2)
Re:Cost (Score:2)
Actually, they usually use deadly poisons and not something that harmlessly makes you vomit.
Re:Cost (Score:2)
That report assumes that the ethanol is refined to 99.8% purity, is produced using the same level of quality we insist on for food, and that fertilization of the fields is necessary.
Fuel cell methanol doesn't need purity, and fertilizier is only added when it's economically viable.
Remove
Re:Cost (Score:2)
Re:Cost (Score:2)
social implications (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:social implications (Score:2)
I am sure the media can always convince 70% of americans that not using oil would be unamerican.
S
Re:social implications (Score:2)
Actually, I should have said ethanol, not methanol, but otherwise the argument holds and you really miss the point. Maybe if you don't use the laptop much a bottol of everclear will last a while, but in heavy use this is just not the case. More importantly, should this fule cell technology be limited to just geek laptops, or shou
Progression (Score:2)
Yabba Dabba Doo.
A glimpse of the Future(rama) (Score:3, Funny)
Now if I could only run my cell phone off of cigarettes, we could re-purpose the entire vice industry. We all know how useful hemp is too...
Enzyme Rights (Score:2)
Let us instead look for a better cleaner form of power, like harnessing the energy contained in the sound of ripping velcro.
Re:Enzyme Rights (Score:4, Funny)
You Fools! (Score:2, Funny)
Drink your batteries, get the shits... (Score:5, Insightful)
Just FYI for anyone thinking about using your laptop as a wetbar.
Re:Drink your batteries, get the shits... (Score:2)
Phenopthalein doesn't instantly give you the shits. If you are a stupid alcoholic drinking rubbing alcohol, you'll likely go blind and probably die before you get the shits. After which, It's more of a insult that you shit yourself than a preventative measure.
Re:Drink your batteries, get the shits... (Score:2)
Phenopthalein doesn't instantly give you the shits. If you are a stupid alcoholic drinking rubbing alcohol, you'll likely go blind and probably die before you get the shits. After which, It's more of a insult that you shit yourself than a preventative measure.
1. Phenopthalein isn't poisonous. Until a few years ago, a lot of laxatives were phenopthalein-based, including Ex-Lax. The only reason it was dropped as an ingredient in laxatives was becau
My favourite quote: (Score:2)
Not the power charge, but the enzymes? So here we have reached the point of being concerned over not just the charge, but the rapid breakdown of the fuel cell itself. And that's actually a good thing, so long as they keep
Futurama (Score:3, Funny)
New Biofuel Cell Runs on Vodka (Score:3, Informative)
ethanol vs methanol (Score:2)
(In fact, they seem to insist on getting a fairly costly form of it to agree to marry.
methanol not that toxic (Score:3, Informative)
Re:methanol not that toxic (Score:2)
Re:methanol not that toxic (Score:2, Informative)
Re:methanol not that toxic (Score:2)
Biochem 305 folks.
Re:methanol not that toxic (Score:2)
Yeah, but it'll save you from the Andromeda Strain!
Sterno Rules!
Re:Wrong! (Score:2)
Re:Wrong! (Score:2)
He was still wrong about methanol not being toxic...
Re:Wrong! (Score:2)