BMag-2012 - University of Birmingham

Clean fuel
for Brazil
Clean hydrogen created from food waste
by Birmingham researchers could be a
particularly valuable bioenergy alternative
for Brazil.
Currently, Brazil is the world’s most intensive
user of bioethanol as an alternative to
petrol for powering transport but there
are questions about whether the mass
production of bioethanol using sugarcane
is sustainable in the long-term.
Bioethanol generates carbon dioxide and
agricultural waste. However, creating clean
hydrogen from waste not only uses that waste
but provides a fuel that is emission-free and
can also be generated sustainably.
Professor Lynne Macaskie, Professor of
Applied Microbiology, presented the research
at a collaborative bioenergy workshop in São
Paulo in May.
‘Fuel cells need clean energy to run them.
If you provide bacteria with a supply of sugary
waste from, for example, chocolate production,
the bacteria can produce hydrogen. At the
moment manufacturers pay to dispose of waste
but with our technique they could convert it to
clean electricity instead,’ she says.
‘Bioethanol is the current biofuel of choice
in Brazil but our research shows the huge
potential for biohydrogen to be the fuel for the
future. Biohydrogen could even be made from
the wastes from bioethanol production - two
biofuels for the price of one. More work from
focused teams, however, is needed, as
agricultural wastes are tougher for bacteria
to digest.’
Birmingham is investing significant funding
developing links and research collaborations
in Brazil alongside the University of Nottingham.
Learn more at
www.birmingham.ac.uk/international/
collaborate/brazil
food waste
The Birmingham Magazine 27
News
Immunologist elected Fellow
Congratulations to Ian
MacLennan, Emeritus
Professor of Immunology,
who has been made a
Fellow of the Royal
Society.
Ian, the former head of the
Department of Immunology and
then the Division (now School) of
Immunity and Infection, has made
several landmark contributions to
immunology, especially to our
understanding of antibody production.
He joined 43 other eminent scientists
drawn from all areas of science,
medicine and engineering elected
to the distinguished status earlier
this year.
‘I am delighted to receive this recognition of the work we
have done in University of Birmingham Medical School over
the past 30 years on the way antibodies are produced in
response to vaccines and can efficiently protect us
from infection.’
DID YOU KNOW?
The controversial human rights activist Malcolm X
visited Birmingham just weeks before his assassination.
This report from
Redbrick describes a
speech ‘Mr X’ made to
the Islamic Society on
Friday 12 February
1965. Just over two
weeks later, on
Sunday 21 February
1965, he was shot
dead as he prepared
to address the
Organization of
Afro–American Unity
in Manhattan.