Scientists Discover Enzyme That Turns Air Into Electricity (phys.org) 92
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: Australian scientists have discovered an enzyme that converts air into energy. The finding, published in the journal Nature, reveals that this enzyme uses the low amounts of the hydrogen in the atmosphere to create an electrical current. This finding opens the way to create devices that literally make energy from thin air. The research team, led by Dr. Rhys Grinter, Ph.D. student Ashleigh Kropp, and Professor Chris Greening from the Monash University Biomedicine Discovery Institute in Melbourne, Australia, produced and analyzed a hydrogen-consuming enzyme from a common soil bacterium.
In this Nature paper, the researchers extracted the enzyme responsible for using atmospheric hydrogen from a bacterium called Mycobacterium smegmatis. They showed that this enzyme, called Huc, turns hydrogen gas into an electrical current. Dr. Grinter notes, "Huc is extraordinarily efficient. Unlike all other known enzymes and chemical catalysts, it even consumes hydrogen below atmospheric levels -- as little as 0.00005% of the air we breathe." The researchers used several cutting-edge methods to reveal the molecular blueprint of atmospheric hydrogen oxidation. They used advanced microscopy (cryo-EM) to determine its atomic structure and electrical pathways, pushing boundaries to produce the most resolved enzyme structure reported by this method to date. They also used a technique called electrochemistry to demonstrate the purified enzyme creates electricity at minute hydrogen concentrations.
Laboratory work performed by Kropp shows that it is possible to store purified Huc for long periods. "It is astonishingly stable. It is possible to freeze the enzyme or heat it to 80 degrees celsius, and it retains its power to generate energy," Kropp said. "This reflects that this enzyme helps bacteria to survive in the most extreme environments. " Huc is a "natural battery" that produces a sustained electrical current from air or added hydrogen. While this research is at an early stage, the discovery of Huc has considerable potential to develop small air-powered devices, for example as an alternative to solar-powered devices. "Once we produce Huc in sufficient quantities, the sky is quite literally the limit for using it to produce clean energy."
In this Nature paper, the researchers extracted the enzyme responsible for using atmospheric hydrogen from a bacterium called Mycobacterium smegmatis. They showed that this enzyme, called Huc, turns hydrogen gas into an electrical current. Dr. Grinter notes, "Huc is extraordinarily efficient. Unlike all other known enzymes and chemical catalysts, it even consumes hydrogen below atmospheric levels -- as little as 0.00005% of the air we breathe." The researchers used several cutting-edge methods to reveal the molecular blueprint of atmospheric hydrogen oxidation. They used advanced microscopy (cryo-EM) to determine its atomic structure and electrical pathways, pushing boundaries to produce the most resolved enzyme structure reported by this method to date. They also used a technique called electrochemistry to demonstrate the purified enzyme creates electricity at minute hydrogen concentrations.
Laboratory work performed by Kropp shows that it is possible to store purified Huc for long periods. "It is astonishingly stable. It is possible to freeze the enzyme or heat it to 80 degrees celsius, and it retains its power to generate energy," Kropp said. "This reflects that this enzyme helps bacteria to survive in the most extreme environments. " Huc is a "natural battery" that produces a sustained electrical current from air or added hydrogen. While this research is at an early stage, the discovery of Huc has considerable potential to develop small air-powered devices, for example as an alternative to solar-powered devices. "Once we produce Huc in sufficient quantities, the sky is quite literally the limit for using it to produce clean energy."
Hydrogen is the future (Score:1)
Whether it's from enzymes or algae or wind or solar or hopefully Fusion.
We need a way to Store the energy. All of the batteries in the world with all of their rare earth minerals could not compete against Hydrogen.
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It's #1 on the Periodic Table. Burning it releases Water
Putting it in balloons was never a good idea (Score:2)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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Because the US had stopped selling Germany helium for various nefarious activities back then. Even they knew filling a Zeppelin with hydrogen was stupid.
Unintended Consequences.
Hindenburg was in fact designed for helium.
Re: Putting it in balloons was never a good idea (Score:2)
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Because the US had stopped selling Germany helium for various nefarious activities back then. Even they knew filling a Zeppelin with hydrogen was stupid.
Unintended Consequences.
Hindenburg was in fact designed for helium.
I just want to point out that the Hindenburg fire was caused by the cloth shell. It was treated with a doping agent which, instead of getting it high, turned it into an explosive. The hydrogen played a minimal part in the disaster.
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That's like saying it isn't the gunpowder in a bomb that causes the explosion, and instead blaming it on the fuse.
If the Hindenburg were filled with Helium, the doping on the envelope might have still caught fire, but it would have been a slow fire that would have released the Helium in a slow fashion and the craft would have settled to the ground in a much more gentle bump. Once the Hydrogen caught and burned from stern to stem, the whole thing crashed in just 16 seconds.
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That's like saying it isn't the gunpowder in a bomb that causes the explosion, and instead blaming it on the fuse.
If the Hindenburg were filled with Helium, the doping on the envelope might have still caught fire, but it would have been a slow fire that would have released the Helium in a slow fashion and the craft would have settled to the ground in a much more gentle bump. Once the Hydrogen caught and burned from stern to stem, the whole thing crashed in just 16 seconds.
The envelope was EXPLOSIVE. It turned the cloth into nitrocellulose
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That is an old theory that has been disproven by testing. From the WikiPedia article: Incendiary Paint Hypothesis [wikipedia.org]
Occasionally, the Hindenburg's varnish is incorrectly identified as, or stated being similar to, cellulose nitrate which, like most nitrates, burns very readily.[34] Instead, the cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) used to seal the zeppelin's skin is rated by the plastics industry as combustible but nonflammable. That is, it will burn if placed within a fire but is not readily ignited. Not all fabric on the Hindenburg burned. For example, the fabric on the port and starboard tail fins was not completely consumed. That the fabric not near the hydrogen fire did not burn is not consistent with the "explosive" dope hypothesis.
Re:Putting it in balloons was never a good idea (Score:4, Informative)
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No, it was designed for Led
Re: Putting it in balloons was never a good idea (Score:2)
So the Hindenburg turned Germans into water?
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It's #1 on the Periodic Table. Burning it releases Water
which is a greenhouse gas.
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It's #1 on the Periodic Table. Burning it releases Water
which is a greenhouse gas.
Last I checked, water wasn't a gas. Did physics change recently?
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Re: Hydrogen is the future (Score:5, Funny)
Last I checked, water wasn't a gas. Did physics change recently?
Yep. They now have concepts like "air humidity" and shit to describe the amount of water gas in the atmosphere.
Crazy shit you wouldn't believe!1!!
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If you're interested, the relevant field is called (among other things) Psychrometrics [wikipedia.org] (notice the "r"), "the field of engineering concerned with the physical and thermodynamic properties of gas-vapor mixtures" (of which the air-water system gets most of the attention.)
Here's a handy ASHRAE-style psychrometric chart [uigi.com] for mean sea level
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"This (Ã-t) style chart " should have rendered as "little-omega - little-t"
little-omega is used for mass ratio (the y axis), little t for (drybulb) temperature (the x axis) on this type of psychrometric chart.
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Last I checked, water wasn't a gas. Did physics change recently?
I bet you think it isn't a solid either...
Steam (Score:3)
Last I checked, water wasn't a gas.
Clearly, you are not a gamer otherwise you would have heard of steam.
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It's #1 on the Periodic Table. Burning it releases Water
which is a greenhouse gas.
Last I checked, water wasn't a gas. Did physics change recently?
Last I checked, water wasn't a solid. What's this clear cube-shaped thing floating in my morning bourbon?
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Interesting. Have you checked from your sources where the rain comes from?
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We need a way to Store the energy. All of the batteries in the world with all of their rare earth minerals could not compete against Hydrogen.
Cool, cool. Now we just need a way to store the Hydrogen.
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Cool, cool. Now we just need a way to store the Hydrogen.
How about zeppelins?
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How about zeppelins?
Unfortunately, that wouldn't work. They're only good for storing led.
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This solution sounds like a "turn on hydrogen, get power out of it", so it's power on demand like nuclear or oil.
But so is other methods of turning hydrogen into power like fuel cells.
Hydrogen is just the start (Score:2)
Hydrogen is a great idea, but what if we could combine it with some other element to make it easier to store at standard temperature and pressure? I'm sure with a bit more research we could come up with a compound with the necessary characteristics to be utilized as a suitable source of stored energy. Ideally, we could then store it in a non-pressurized tank made of steel, aluminum or composite materials, located on the underside of a vehicle. I'm sure this idea could use further refinement, but I strong
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There are no issues with storing unpressurized hydrogen, except how to get it out of the container if you literally mean 1 ATM. At 2 though, it will come out, youâ(TM)ll just get less than you would with a high pressure system. Youâ(TM)d need pretty incredible energy density for people to want to just not have much stored. Perhaps if you have something on the level of nuclear, but personally I donâ(TM)t see a gas mixture doing it.
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There are no issues with storing unpressurized hydrogen, except how to get it out of the container if you literally mean 1 ATM. At 2 though, it will come out, youâ(TM)ll just get less than you would with a high pressure system. Youâ(TM)d need pretty incredible energy density for people to want to just not have much stored. Perhaps if you have something on the level of nuclear, but personally I donâ(TM)t see a gas mixture doing it.
The best gas for energy density is anti-hydrogen [wikipedia.org].
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Might as well make it and store it at the bottom of the ocean where there's already plenty of pressure around.
If the reactor is hot enough it can live in a leidenfrost steam bubble and never have to touch that nasty salt water
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I'm sure with a bit more research we could come up with a compound with the necessary characteristics to be utilized as a suitable source of stored energy.
Technically, gasoline is a mixture, given that it can be further fractionated into other chemically distinct compounds. And yes, I just let my inner pedant out to play.
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^^ +1 Funny
OK, this had me laughing hard.
Yeah, it is really hard to beat gasoline for the amount of energy it contains per volume/weight, portability, transport, refill time, storage life, temperature insensitivity range, and simplicity (at least as energy storage, not as simple to convert it into work, far less into clean work).
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Sure, there are a bunch of them. Shitty round trip efficiency though. Clearly impractical.
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1. "Rare" Earths are not that rare
2. Alternate battery chemistries are being developed
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>"1. "Rare" Earths are not that rare"
Yet rare enough to make things difficult. And rare to find places willing to process them.
>"2. Alternate battery chemistries are being developed"
Yep, the breakthrough is just 10 years away. Rinse and repeat. (Seriously, they will come, but never fast enough; meanwhile there are small, continuous improvements).
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Yep, the breakthrough is just 10 years away. Rinse and repeat. (Seriously, they will come, but never fast enough; meanwhile there are small, continuous improvements).
You overlook what already is available and when it became available. This is an ongoing improvement process and batteries get better all the time. Just ignore the stupid headlines that claim a "revolution". This is an incremental process.
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2. True
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Thanks.
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>"We need a way to Store the energy. All of the batteries in the world with all of their rare earth minerals could not compete against Hydrogen."
At least for vehicles, the problem is that storing energy as hydrogen is less easy nor safe, compared to petrol or batteries. You have to lug around a large, heavy, highly-pressurized cylinder. Much more of a bomb than most other energy storage, and more difficult and dangerous to fill. Hydrogen isn't energy dense, so use for things like vehicles isn't great
Next up: (Score:2)
We coat everything with an artificial version of this enzyme to ensure our electronics can self-charge over time or maintain some very basic functionality to respond to a wake up request... and with everything human-made on the planet consuming that 0.00005% free hydrogen, it becomes significantly more scarce and starves a species of bacteria that turns out to have been a keystone species in the global ecosystem.
No, Beau... (Score:2)
Australian scientists have discovered an enzyme that converts air into energy.
No, Beau, they did not - but at least you're consistent.
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You two have a knack for shooting the messenger... (Score:2)
Re: You two have a knack for shooting the messenge (Score:1)
Re: No, Beau... (Score:2)
It literally says that in the FA. Although I confess I don't think I fully understand the nuance of your post.
Electric penis goo (Score:5, Funny)
In this Nature paper, the researchers extracted the enzyme responsible for using atmospheric hydrogen from a bacterium called Mycobacterium smegmatis.
My inner teenager sure got a chuckle from the name of that bacterium. But surely it's just a coincidence, right? Nope. [wikipedia.org]
Subsequent to this, Alvarez and Tavel found organisms similar to that described by Lustgarten also in normal genital secretions (smegma). This organism was later named M. smegmatis.[1]
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Men have the power after all?
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"Honey you suck the energy right out of me" just became science.
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can't believe how far down I had to scroll to find the first post mentioning the obvious.
Mycobacterium smegmatis
The smelly white cream down there is a source of energy.
What are "electrical pathways" in an enzyme? (Score:2)
They used advanced microscopy (cryo-EM) to determine its atomic structure and electrical pathways
What are "electrical pathways" within an enzyme? Is it referring to chemistry-type bonds, or do electric fields play a role in the functioning of the enzyme?
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Sorry about the formatting... trying again...
They used advanced microscopy (cryo-EM) to determine its atomic structure and electrical pathways
What are "electrical pathways" within an enzyme? Is it referring to chemistry-type bonds, or do electric fields play a role in the functioning of the enzyme?
Re:What are "electrical pathways" in an enzyme? (Score:4, Informative)
The enzyme is functioning in the electron transport from the hydrogen -> others carriers -> ultimately oxygen in the transport chain. The electrons can move across the protein itself. There would be a field on the protein associated with that movement. But the movement does also have the potential to influence bonds both by participating (partially) in bonding and by occupying space as unbonded electrons which will distort the bond angles. That's how the cryo-EM gives insight into the pathway - you get a bunch of snapshots of the protein with the electrons localized to different spots and can pick those out by the effect that the additional electrons in that spot has on the shape.
"turns hydrogen gas into an electrical current" (Score:3)
E = mc^2
That's a lot of energy!
Next step (Score:2)
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Can they turn it onto the hydrogen in methane in the air?
Methane is for times as common in the atmosphere as H2, so it would be a better source of energy.
And someway to bind the remaining carbon atom to something that doesn't get released into the air?
Even if the CH4 was converted to CO2, it would be a big win for global warming, since CH4 is a much more potent greenhouse gas.
Cue oil cartel assassination (Score:2)
It's like the plot of a movie. Scientist invents free energy and makes it easily available. Energy cartel thugs ensure he meets with an "accident" and research gets buried. Hope this isn't one of those stories - like, I don't know, fifty fucking years of waiting for hydrogen vehicles and global warming to be taken seriously. ... and on that note: no, nuclear is not "the solution" so fuck off already all the industry-supported, astroturfing shills who infest Slashdot claiming we'll all be better off trusting
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fifty fucking years of waiting for hydrogen vehicles and global warming to be taken seriously
We don't have hydrogen vehicles because we knew EVs were coming, and hydrogen vehicles are terrible from a user perspective. The only advantages they offer are fast fueling and reduced tailpipe emissions, and everything else about them is inferior to what we have already. There are a handful of them on the market and they have only served to prove the point. A couple filling stations have been blown up already, they literally had to give away free fuel for years to make them economically competitive... They
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Safe Nuclear Fusion is the future.
Mike drop
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yep, was the future, is the future and will be the future for ever and ever.
Always 20 years from becoming the solution.
Re: Cue oil cartel assassination (Score:2)
Wow, such as ass-toot comment. Yo mama should be proud! LoL
Potential for Mars? (Score:4, Interesting)
Mars has much less atmospheric hydrogen than earth but still well-within the parameters of this enzyme to utilize, and the study notes the enzyme is functional over a broad range of temperatures.
Suggests both the potential for coupling to organisms that do something useful such as grow building material [nasa.gov], and also that there might be extremophiles already present.
Oxidize the hydrogen with what--on Mars? (Score:2)
Remember, the electrons on the hydrogen need someplace to go eventually. On earth, hydrogen readily bonds with free oxygen to form water. What's the oxygen analog on mars? Is the oxygen analog on Mars compatible with this enzyme?
Note that both Earth and Mars have oxidizing atmospheres, so some pathway like this could theoretically work....
see: Microbial Fuel Cell (Score:4, Interesting)
Microbial fuel cells are interesting, but they provide extremely little energy. It's actually more useful to run them in reverse, that is, to use a small electric current to enable the bacteria to break down waste more quickly.
This is one of the large number of potential energy sources I researched from 2000-2011 on an amteur basis. My conclusion was that nuclear fission is the best.
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Regardless of their opinion on nuclear power an sich, very few people want to put fission reactors in boats and planes.
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That's why you put batteries in short range vehicles (boats, planes, cars, ...), and reactors in durable ground installations. You don't need to carry a reactor around unless you want to be mobile for extended periods of time (military uses, exploration, remote mining, space...)
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An ocean is pretty big for a battery powered vehicle, not short range at all.
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My conclusion was that nuclear fission is the best.
Next time lead with that. Then people can save some time by ignoring your comment without reading it to the end.
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This is one of the large number of potential energy sources I researched from 2000-2011 on an amteur basis. My conclusion was that nuclear fission is the best.
And the entrenched power companies, who will definitely mismanage it, and who are contractually allowed only a percentage of costs for building new generation projects thank you.
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I think you mean Fusion, not Fission.
But other than that, all good.
Ignore the weird Luddites that seem to have gathered here.
Potential (Score:3)
There is definitely some potential in this.
As I recall, nuclear fission power plants have a small percentage of hydrogen in the air, because the fission does split some amount of water into hydrogen and oxygen.
This would make the air somewhat safer, and provide a small amount of power.
Perhaps use it to create ammonia and store for emergencies or black start-up.
Some bacteria used in making cheese also give off hydrogen, so this could make some cheeses become much cheaper to produce.
Cool to hear about this before it gets disappeared (Score:1)
There is a lot of money being made by current energy providers. Guarantee you as long as that's true and they can't find a way to "license" this enzyme in such a way that using it without paying the current energy cartels a fee you'll end up locked away and prison raped for eternity.
It's a nice day-dream to think this would help humanity in general with our energy problems. But time has proven we're not allowed to live those types of day-dreams. Promising cancer research gets killed just as fast as promisin
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All it takes is one disruptor, just take Tesla. I'm no Musk fanboy (I really don't care for the man in fact) but prior to Tesla no one was investing meaningful amounts of resources into electric cars as all the big auto companies were doing just fine with gas. Now their inaction has brought them a new major player in the auto industry that they're losing sales to and are all scrambling to catch up to.
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Sure. So we need a multi-billionaire to pick up this tech before the current power industry buries it? Great. More faith in society's great self-proclaimed gods.
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It's not as if Elon is the first to do this.
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Nope. But it's a worrying trend that the only way we ever achieve any form of progress is if someone ultra-wealthy grabs hold of it and force-feeds it back to us. It's not even a new-ish trend. It's been happening since money became the prime driver of everything for modern man.
Only greed can save us from greed. Only greed. The real god.
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Well its either that or the government does it. These things dont fund themselves.
I dont find the government doing it as objectionable at all btw, just less likely given how conservative our country is.
This is not about storing hydrogen (Score:1)
I am confused about some comments.
The enzyme produces electricity from hydrogen, even from small quantities in the air. The enzyme goal is not to produce hydrogen.
So, what we need is the enzyme and some sort of better batteries, as the new sodium ones ... and some air. That's all ... right?
skeptical (Score:3)
Sounds like vapor-ware.
names that inspire confidence (Score:2)
I look forward to getting venture capitalists to pour money in something based on mycobacterium smegmatis.
VC 1: "Hey Fred, what's new this week?"
VC 2: "I put $100 million into mycobacterium smegmatis!"
VC 1 slowly moves away, carefully.