Lab breakthrough in biofuels

Amid some level of controversy that producing biofuels pushes up the cost of food because farmers switch to the more lucrative related cash crops, scientists have developed a system where micro-organisms produce sugar using photosynthesis—converting the energy from the sun, writes Brian Byrne.

The pilot systems developed by New Jersey-based Proterro Inc have shown that sugar can be produced at a third of the current cost of production, and at 10 times more per acre than the current most efficient manner, sugarcane. The researchers expect to be able to triple this rate.

Scaled up, the sugar would be produced inside closed transparenr containers, and the cyanobacteria grown on a fabric that requires a trickle of water to sustain them.