Support renewable energy
Renew earth’s future with BIO-E
01
problem
The use of non-renewable energy resources ,
by greenhouse gas emissions lead to environmental
problems and also puts great strains on countries’ budgets.
vision
As we sought an alternative energy source,
renewable, sustainable and one that will outrun fossil
fuels our research lead us to biofuels.
solution
Finally, we made use of bioethanol which is a
renewable and sustainable green energy source that
could be obtained from agricultural waste.
What We Did:
Please proceed to our project page for information in depth.
We investigated ways to obtain bioethanol and faced a distinction between bio-energy
generations as first, second, and third. The first generation energy evokes concerns
in terms of the debate “food vs fuel” since it is obtained from food crops. On the
other hand, second-generation product is from lignocellulosic biomass, so doesn’t
create a controversy as such and less cultivation and fermentation. Thus, we chose to
develop a second-generation bioethanol production system and upgrade it by engineering
ethanologenic E.coli strain KO11 using the two genes FucO and GSH.
Why Bioethanol?
We chose bioethanol as our point of attention due to its qualities of being non-toxic, biodegradable,
cost-friendly, it reducing the amount of crude oil dependency from other countries and most importantly,
being less likely to cause high greenhouse gas emissions, thus less pollution. In comparison with other
fuels, ethanol contains 35% oxygen so the complete combustion of fuel can be seen which lowers the
emission of harmful gases. Moreover, ethanol production uses energy from biomass which means that it is
renewable and sustainable. Furthermore, ethanol by fermentation offers a more favorable trade balance,
enhanced energy security, and a major new crop for a depressed agricultural economy. Furthermore, while
being 20-30% more efficient, bioethanol used as a fuel reduces engine weight and provides higher torque
and horsepower compared to conventional gasoline engines.
Since collaborating is an essential part of iGEM, encouraging teams to
overcome problems, we have interacted with various teams from all around
the world. To see what we’ve achieved together, please proceed to the
collaborations page.
Since Science is a collective effort, one can never pursue great things
alone and without taking help from people who are experts in the specific
subjects. Not to mention the nature of iGEM projects requiring us to be
well-rounded, it's fair to say it's next to impossible to do it alone.
See the people and their contributions to our project on the page
attributions.
Beyond the lab, we were there to be a part of the society. During the making
of our project, we benefited from the public idea as much as we benefited
from any protocol or article. We strove to integrate what we have learned from
others to our project in order to make the best use of Bio-E, since we wanted
the whole world to make use of our fermentation process in the future.
Contrary to popular belief, iGEM is much more than what meets the eye. It means to be
conscious, it means to have a community, it means entrepreneurship. Just like all the
iGEM teams, our experience leads us to learn that science is truly a collective endeavor.
Here is our interactions with peers, experts, and the public.
The Team.
Every member of this team has spared tremendous efforts and endless work hours to make
our project come to life. The team is not only about working together but like a family.