Alternative Car Fuels UK

The UK Government will expend £250 million (US$354 million) on its campaign to push for ultra-low carbon vehicles. This announcement was made by Geoff Hoon, Transport Secretary, along with the news that the UK government has granted its approval for the Heathrow Airport’s third runway, which has been a long-standing issue in United Kingdom.

The £250 million budget is allotted the development of infrastructures and the incentives for consumers, side to side with an on-going £100 million program for extensive study, exhibitions, and development. According to Hoon, the £250 million fund will help motivate the consumers to switch to ultra-low emissions cars and back up the steps taken for the development of the needed infrastructures.

“Transport is the lifeblood of Britain’s economy,” said Secretary Hoon. “In spite of record levels of investment over the last decade, increasing demand means that in many places our transport infrastructure is operating at, or very near, capacity. It is essential we take the right decisions now: for the economy, to drive down greenhouse gas emissions by 2050; and to support British jobs.”

Upon the government’s confirmation of the third Heathrow runway [and the refusal of a mixed mode—using the on-going runaways for arrivals and take-offs] and extra terminal amenities, Hoon added that he expects the airport operators to provide a blueprint for the planned project to meet the completion period allotted and to avoid delays. To meet environmental limitations, Hoon said that very strict air and noise quality conditions are to be followed.

From the Goethe University of Frankfurt, Professor Eckhard Boles and his team have modified, genetically, the Saccharomyces cerevisiaeyeast to be able to produce a newly formed enzyme that can make fermentation of xylose (a 5 chained sugar) as well as the 6-carbon sugar (like glucose). The research and evaluation are included on their journal Applied Environmental Microbiology.

When treated, cellulosic biomass can actually produce a mixture of pentose (5 chained carbon) and hexose (6 chained carbon) sugars, as well as glucose, galactose, D-xylose, mannose and L-arabinose. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is typical industrial yeast that offers high production, fast sugar consumption and ethanol tolerance. The only problem is, it cannot ferment pentose sugars.

The lack of helpful microorganisms that can convert the hexoses and pentoses effectively to ethanol is a major hindrance to the cost-efficient production of cellulosic ethanol through the process of fermentation.

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