TechThursday XXXIV: Rocket Biofuel

Bacteria can be used to power spaceships?! 🦠⛽️🚀YES! …well, kind of. Let me explain: In this video you can see an amazing result of application engineering⚙️. - Bacteria are usually not producing rocket fuel components, but with the right set of additional genes they can🧬 (especially our newest hero Pseudomonas!) - This fermenter is not meant to be used to produce volatile biofuels, but at least one can collect the off-gas - This cooling trap ❄️ next to the fermenter is not meant to be connected to it, but it can actually help to trap volatile biofuel components. Now putting all of that together …and with a little bit optimization… we suddenly have a tiny factory that gives us chemical building blocks that can be used to produce jet fuel✈️ or liquid rocket fuel🚀from renewable sources🌱. Maybe one day it might even produce rocket fuel from potatoes grown on Mars! 🥔 Have a nice Thursday! 👋🏽 #NCCR #NCCRmse #Chemistry #lab #Science #biology #lifescience #physics #research #researcher #technology #tech #Pseudomonas #Rocketfuel #Biofuel