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SUMMARY:Microbial Bioenergy Production - Professor Alison Smith (Departmen
 t of Plant Sciences)
DTSTART:20080508T190000Z
DTEND:20080508T200000Z
UID:TALK12124@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:9337
DESCRIPTION:Land-based bioenergy crops create serious economic and environ
 mental concerns\, which include the sequestering of huge areas of arable l
 and or ecologically sensitive regions (such as rain forests) for their gro
 wth\, the introduction of competition to food production\, and a concomita
 nt increase in the price of staple food. In contrast\, aquatic-based large
 -scale algal culturing facilities can be sited on any land\, including was
 te or industrial sites. Moreover\, algal productivity can be much higher t
 han land plants per unit area\, due to their fast growth rates.\n\nAlgae d
 isplay a remarkable degree of metabolic versatility\, with many species ab
 le to produce high levels of hydrocarbons\, some of which are stored in th
 e cell wall\; essentially these algae produce and excrete diesel! They can
  also divert photosynthetic energy into another ready-to-use fuel\, hydrog
 en or electricity. In addition\, algal growth can be directly coupled to o
 ther industrial processes\, in particular the scrubbing of CO2 from flue g
 as and the removal of nitrates and phosphates from wastewater\, which not 
 only has a cost benefit\, but can reduce the carbon footprint of industria
 l processes.
LOCATION:Pharmacology Lecture Theatre  (Tennis Court Road - see http://tin
 yurl.com/rxaj7 )
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