New biofuel to power future missiles, rockets
- An Engineered Bacterium may lead the next generation super powerful fuel.
- Georgia Institute of Technology have engineered a bacterium to synthesize pinene — a hydrocarbon produced by trees that can potentially replace high-energy fuels such as JP-10 in missiles and other aerospace applications.
- Enzymes from trees are inserted into the becterium which boosted pinene production from 6-fold to 26-fold to make them competitive.
- Pinene needed to be improved to make it competely with petroleum-based JP-10
- The aim is to produce pinene at a cost lower than petroleum-based sources with bio-fuel operating in powerful engines which will increase supplies of high-energy fuels.