Rocket fuel is the latest in a long line of fuels being developed from bio sources instead of being produced from petrochemicals. Numerous other fuels have been developed from bio-diesel and synthetic gasolines to aviation fuels are now being made from microorganisms or from converting bio feedstocks. And now, scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Joint BioEnergy Institute have been able to produce a key component of JP-10 high energy fuel from bacterial sources.
Pinene is a component that is used in fuels that are used for missiles and rockets. It is found in tree sap, but it is primarily extracted from crude oil. Since only a small amount of pinene can be produced from each barrel of crude oil, it is expensive and difficult to obtain.
The researchers developed strains of E. coli which has been able to produce small quantities of pinene in the laboratory. There are still further steps to take before this becomes scalable and commercially viable, but the initial development has been the major milestone, and researchers on the project expect to be able to further improve the process as they continue their work.
There is also a much stronger economic drive to develop bio-based rocket fuel as compared to other fuels. At present, petroleum-based JP-10 costs about $25 per gallon, so a difference of a dollar or two per gallon could be significant, as well as being able to produce fuel for space travel without needing ot rely on petrochemical sources.
image: CC BY-SA 3.0 by Image courtesy of SpaceX/Wikimedia Commons
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