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posted by mrpg on Thursday March 07 2019, @08:47AM   Printer-friendly
from the electric-dreams dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Capturing bacteria that eat and breathe electricity

[...] Voila! They had succeeded in capturing their prey – heat-loving bacteria that "breathe" electricity through the solid carbon surface of the electrodes.

The WSU team, in collaboration with colleagues from Montana State University, published their research detailing the multiple bacterial communities they found in the Journal of Power Sources.

"This was the first time such bacteria were collected in situ in an extreme environment like an alkaline hot spring," said Mohamed, adding that temperatures in the springs ranged from about 110 to nearly 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

These tiny creatures are not merely of academic interest.

They may hold a key to solving some of the biggest challenges facing humanity – environmental pollution and sustainable energy. Such bacteria can “eat” pollution by converting toxic pollutants into less harmful substances and generating electricity in the process.


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by c0lo on Thursday March 07 2019, @01:12PM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 07 2019, @01:12PM (#811124) Journal

    Now, if we could just find rust eating bacteria that converts the rust back into good metal.

    Meet Geobacter metallireducens [wikipedia.org]

    Geobacter metallireducens is a gram-negative metal-reducing proteobacterium.[1] It is a strict anaerobe that oxidizes several short-chain fatty acids, alcohols, and monoaromatic compounds with Fe(III) as the sole electron acceptor.

    Not quite "back to good metal", only from rust (Fe2O3 when dehydrated) to magnetite (Fe3O4) - 'cause FeO is unstable below 575C - but magnetite doesn't have a hydrated form and is reduced. Means less energy to get the metal out - evaoirate the water and reduce it.,

    So, mix rust+whisky, invite Geobacter metallireducens to the party and you get electricity and magnetite out.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
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