I was watching CNN yesterday and they ran a story of researchers who genetically modified a E. Coli bacteria to actually excrete diesiel fuel! The company behind this research is LS9, Inc. Like all bacteria, all they need is simple sugar for the bacteria to do it’s work. LS9 expects in a few years to be producing millions of gallons on a wide scale.

If beer companies can ferment beer by the millions of gallons every year in the U.S, surely these bacteria could do the same in creating diesel fuel. It is certainly not a grasp to envision the idea of growing this on a mass scale. It makes you wonder if this is the actual future of “biofuels” and not corn and soy, which has been controversial from the start anyways.

One question that came to my mind, will the bacteria be able to excrete regular gasoline or just diesel? Diesel is easier to make than gas because it doesn’t have to be what you find in the ground. Many oils can mimic the properties of diesel fuel. There are people who put vegetable oil in their diesel engines and it runs just like the artificial diesel fuel at the gas station. If the bacteria only grows diesel then this could especially help the trucking industry, translating into lower shipping and food costs for everyone. It could also lead us to converting all engines to diesel.

Another question I have, how much of the demand will growing it through bacteria, meet the current U.S demand? Well, the researchers weren’t optimistic enough to say it will meet all of demand. I guess it depends on how optimistic you are and how high the world oil prices get. I think, it could certainly wind up making a large portion of the source of our diesel and gas someday in the future.

Finally, how much would it cost to grow this diesel fuel through this bacteria compared to what we pay for it out of the ground? The Senior director Mr Pal was quoted as saying it would cost probably around 50 dollars a barrel. I figure that it can’t be a whole lot cheaper than brewing a beer at best, since both share many similarities in how they are made. A 6 pack of Miller in the U.S, is less than 10 dollars. A gallon is around the same volume of liquid as a 6 pack. However beer has to be refrigerated and made for human consumption, so it’s naturally going to cost more to put on the market. It seems to me then that we could get this naturally grow diesel fuel cost to 4 or 5 dollars a gallon at the lowest. If my calculations are right, then growing our gas through this bacteria could help with energy independence and keeping costs from going extremely out of control (ie 8-10 dollars a gallon). It probably won’t make gas cheap again like a few years ago, but it won’t make them any worse than it is now. However, if Mr Pal’s estimation is right about it only costing 50 dollars a barrel, then gas or at least diesel fuel, would be like how it cost about 3 years ago. Diesel fuel costs always translates into food costs, so lower diesel costs is a win for all of us. You can go to LS9.com to learn more about the company and their research.

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