Scientists develop a cheaper method that might help create fuels from plants

 Erin Foley - AP Bio C Odd - Current Event 11 - Jan. 10th, 2020

Ohio State University. "Scientists develop a cheaper method that might help create fuels from 

plants." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 8 January 2021. 

<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210108111048.htm>.

In the article, "Scientists develop a cheaper method that might help create fuels from plants”, riveting and comforting discoveries about the future of biofuel are described. For years, scientists have been trying to find more efficient ways to produce biofuels, so that they could one day truly compete with fossil fuels. The process of converting sugar to fuel is well-known and well-used, but it is extremely difficult to do on a mass-scale, even with government-subsidized biofuel initiatives. This process of converting sugar to butanol/ethanol requires a lot of NADH and its derivative, NADPH, both of which allow carbon in cells to be transformed into energy. However, it is usually extremely expensive to produce high levels of these “helper molecules”, or cofactors. Now, a study published in Science Daily reveals that biochemists and engineers at Ohio State may have found a cheaper way to produce them. Researchers used an electrode - a conductor of energy that can oxidize NADH - made out of nickel and copper to recreate NADH and NADPH in their reduced forms. Nickel and copper are both inexpensive materials, thus with a smaller production cost, “biofuels [could become] a very… attractive” energy source, said Vish Subramaniam, senior author on the paper and retired Ohio State professor of engineering. The researchers, Jonathan Kadowaki and Travis Jones, (two mechanical and aerospace engineering graduate students), ran additional tests and found that the oxidized NADH they recreated with the electrode could in fact produce alcohol from another molecule. This proved that butanol/ethanol for fuels can in fact be produced on a cleaner - and cheaper - scale than ever previously thought. 

The environmental impacts of this discovery are obvious, but because NADH and NADPH are involved in so many cellular conversion processes, the experiments have additional implications in the scientific community. For years, global corporations and governments have hesitated to reduce fossil fuel usage/increase reliance on biofuels due to their high production cost. Because of this, our earth is at a major risk of overheating, as fossil fuels release carbon dioxide/greenhouse gases that trap heat in our atmosphere. In 2020, we reached average global temperatures that were 2.25 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial averages. This margin of change is equivalent to that of 2016, which is alarming considering 2016 experienced a natural heating cycle - whereas 2020 experienced a natural cooling cycle. Biofuels, on the other hand, are considered renewable energy sources, emit fewer greenhouse gases, are biodegradable, and are much safer to find on earth than fossil fuels (no drilling or mining necessary). Moreover, the discoveries made by Kadowaki and Jones have implications for oncology. Subramaniam’s previous work shows that controlling the flow of electrons within cancer cells - which they could do more easily with access to NADH - could slow their growth and ability to metastasize. Finally, this discovery could help scientists create synthetic plants, a creation that Subramaniam believes “could potentially reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and help address climate change.” If NADH is accessible in large quantities, scientists could potentially use it to conduct artificial photosynthesis, bringing them one step closer to synthetic plants.

This article successfully connects intricate biological concepts to relevant global issues, all the while making the biological concepts simple to understand. It has a simple yet effective structure, beginning with the problem (“The process of converting sugar to alcohol has to be very efficient if you want to have the end product be competitive with fossil fuels”) and explaining how the solution was found through scientific research (“A less expensive and simpler method to create the "helper molecules" that allow carbon in cells to be turned into energy”). The authors do not go too in-depth on some ideas, which was at times helpful, as some would have been too abstract for me to understand. For instance, to explain how their discovery relates to cancer, they merely state that “Both cofactors also play an important role in slowing the metabolism of cancer cells and have been a target of treatment for some cancers,” a simple yet impactful description. Finally, the authors did a thorough job at citing the discovery’s research, connecting it to biofuels, oncology, and synthetic plant creation. Still, there was some room for improvement. For one thing, they did not explain the previous method of generating NADH for biofuel creation, or really anything about biofuel creation (other than that it is expensive). This left me somewhat confused as to how their method was cheaper - was the electrode always used to oxidize cofactors, and they just made one with cheaper materials? Or was this a completely new method? Including this information would have clarified how the researchers revolutionized biofuel synthesis. Finally, the researchers could have better explained the importance of using biofuels. They did not list any reasons as to why biofuels from plants are a better alternative to fossil fuels, which required me to complete additional research. Background on biofuels vs. fossil fuels would increase the number of readers this article would reach, and make it more comprehensive in general.