Archive for March, 2010

Ilford B&W Paper 8X10 Multigrade IV 100 Pack

Mar 31, 2010 Home Automations

  • Resin Coated
  • Non-developer incorporated
  • Sparkling whites
  • Rich blacks
  • Wide tonal range

301 Moved
301 Moved
The document has moved here.& #13;

Ilford B&W Paper 8X10 Multigrade IV 100 Pack

Tags: , , ,

Fuel From the Gribble

Mar 31, 2010 Energy Talks, Sponge

From examining the genes expressed in the guts of the gribble, researchers have demonstrated that a gribble’s digestive system contains enzymes that could hold the key to converting wood and straw into liquid biofuels.  Yes, there is such a creature called the gribble, it’s a really small crustacean scientifically named Limnoria quadripunctata.

The Gribble aka Limnoria quadripunctata. rmation.

Since the dawn of going to sea in wooden ships seafarers have been plagued by wood-eating gribble that destroyed the ships, and these creatures continue to wreak damage on wooden piers and docks in coastal communities worldwide.

A research team headed by Professor Simon McQueen-Mason of the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products in the Department of Biology and Professor Neil Bruce at York University, and Dr Simon Cragg at Portsmouth University reveal that the gribble’s digestive tract is dominated by enzymes that attack the polymers that make up wood.  The research is published in the March 23, 2010 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

The gribble’s claim to fame is its digestive tract holds one of the most abundant cellulose degrading enzymes, which have never been seen before in animals.  Unlike termites and other wood-eating animals, the gribbles have no helpful microbes in their digestive system. This means that they must possess all of the enzymes needed to convert wood into sugars within themselves.

Professor McQueen-Mason explains the research activity, “Most animals that consume wood have digestive tracts packed with microbes that help to digest the cell wall polymers, but the gribble’s is sterile, so it must produce all the enzymes needed to break down the wood itself. We have done extensive DNA sequencing of the genes expressed in its gut, and we have detected cellulases never seen in animals before. We want to see if it’s possible to adapt the gribble digestive enzymes for industrial purposes.”

The scientists at York are now studying the enzymes to establish how they work, and whether they can be adapted to industrial applications. The press release suggests “Perhaps one day soon seafarers will be sailing the seas on ships powered with biofuels produced with gribble enzymes.”

Professor McQueen-Mason said, “This may provide clues as to how this conversion could be performed in an industrial setting.”

The research is backed by the BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre, a £26M research investment by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and has six research programs at universities and research institutes.

Duncan Eggar, BBSRC Bioenergy Champion, said, “The world needs to quickly reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and sustainably produced bioenergy offers the potential to rapidly introduce liquid transport fuels into our current energy mix.”

The team has already zeroed in onglycosyl hydrolase genes and found hemocyanin transcripts were highly abundant in the hepatopancreas transcriptome. Based on recent studies indicating that these proteins may function as phenoloxidases in isopods, the paper discusses a possible role for hemocyanins in lignin decomposition.  There might be the key.

This research is just back from the very sharp edge of research.  Yet the realization those crustaceans have enzyme chemistry that may be useful is a very intuitive thought.  How the biochemistry might have a role is yet to be seen.  But coastal folks know these critters can certainly eat away wood that’s laced with all sorts of inhibitors from creosote to arsenic compounds.  The things these enzymes might take apart might be an incredibly large list.

This just might be an early look at a breakthrough.


Original post here: New Energy and Fuel

Tags: , , ,

A Path to the Artificial Leaf

Mar 30, 2010 Energy Talks, Sponge

A new recipe based on the chemistry and biology of natural leaves that could lead to working prototypes of an artificial leaf that capture solar energy and use it efficiently to change water into hydrogen fuel was reported the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society last week.

Tongxiang Fan, Ph.D. and colleagues Di Zhang, Ph.D. and Han Zhou, Ph.D. with the State Key Lab of Matrix Composites at Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China presented a design strategy to produce the long-sought artificial leaf, which could harness Mother Nature’s ability to produce energy from sunlight and water in the process called photosynthesis.  Cleverly the goal isn’t building an organic chemical; rather it’s the short step of gathering out the H2 from water.

The team decided to take a closer look at the leaf, nature’s own photosynthetic system, with plans to use its structure as a blueprint for their next generation of artificial leaf systems. The structure of green leaves provides an extremely high light-harvesting efficiency. In leaf architecture are structures responsible focusing and guiding of solar energy into the light-harvesting sections of the leaf, and other functions.

Dr. Fan said, “This concept may provide a new vista for the design of artificial photosynthetic systems based on biological paradigms and build a working prototype to exploit sustainable energy resources.”  Fan pointed out that using sunlight to split water into its components, hydrogen and oxygen, is one of the most promising and sustainable tactics to escape current dependence on coal, oil, and other traditional fuels.

When burned, those fuels release carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.  Fan also alluded to combustion of hydrogen, by contrast that forms just water vapor. That appeal is central to the much-discussed “Hydrogen Economy.”  Some auto companies, such as Toyota, have developed hydrogen-fueled cars. What’s missing is a cost-effective and sustainable way to produce hydrogen.

Artificial Leaf Process Graph. .

The scientists decided to mimic the natural architectural design in the development of a blueprint for artificial leaf-like structures. That led them to report their recipe for the “Artificial Inorganic Leaf” (AIL), based on the natural leaf and titanium dioxide (TiO2) – a chemical already recognized as a photocatalyst for hydrogen production.

The team first infiltrated the leaves of Anemone vitifolia, a native Chinese plant – with titanium dioxide using two-step process. Using advanced spectroscopic techniques; the scientists were then able to confirm that the structural features in the leaf favorable for light harvesting were replicated in the new TiO2 structure.

The artificial leaves are eight times more active for hydrogen production than TiO2 that has not been “biotemplated” as the team did with the A. vitifloia.  The artificial leaves are more than three times as active as commercial photo-catalysts as well.

Next, the scientists embedded nanoparticles of platinum into the leaf surface. Platinum, along with the nitrogen found naturally in the leaf, helps increase the activity of the artificial leaves by an additional factor of ten.

During the report at the American Chemical Society meeting Fan reported on various aspects of Artificial Inorganic Leaf production, their spectroscopic work to better understand the macro- and microstructure of the photocatalysts, and their comparison to previously reported systems. The activity of these new “leaves” is significantly higher than those prepared using classic routes. Fan attributes these results to the hierarchical structures derived from natural leaves.

Fan said, “Our results may represent an important first step towards the design of novel artificial solar energy transduction systems based on natural paradigms, particularly based on exploring and mimicking the structural design. Nature still has much to teach us, and human ingenuity can modify the principles of natural systems for enhanced utility.”

As lab experiments go, this is quite encouraging.  One hopes that the results can translate up to prototypes and on to demonstration and scale up.  But that’s a far way to go.  The insight though, is extraordinary.  The innovation is clever.  The notion that hydrogen could be produced daily in part or in full of individual needs and used with very short storage periods puts more practicality into a “hydrogen economy” concept.

Yet one has to doubt, even should this level of technology become widespread that a “hydrogen economy” is practical.  Without low cost fuel cells as an example, to get to electrical output for use, hydrogen is a very limited fuel.  Like photovoltaic, solar hydrogen production will require solar exposed land area per person, which in urban settings is in very low proportion indeed.


Post written by: New Energy and Fuel

Tags: , , , ,

Lux TX9100E 7 Day Universal Programmable Thermostat

Mar 30, 2010 Environmental Controls

  • Easy to install and set up
  • 7 day programming
  • Keypad Lock
  • Universal System Compatibility
  • Large lighted display

- Large lighted display – Can be used on most 24V heating an cooling systems – Mercury free – Easy to install and setup Features – 7 day programming – Universal system compatibility – Special program for holiday or vacation – Quick copy – Smart recovery – Large blue electronic luminescent display – 12/24 time format – and much more
Lux TX9100E 7 Day Universal Programmable Thermostat

Tags: , , , , , ,