Exeter Impact Awards: Technology

During a glittering ceremony last night in the Great Hall, the winners of the University of Exeter Impact Awards 2013 were revealed.

The impact awards celebrate the outstanding contributions researchers at the University have made to wider society.

Each award was separated into categories to showcase the particular area that they benefit.

Over many years of study the University has built on its reputation as an international name in technological research, which was evident in the strength of the shortlist for the Outstanding Impact on Technology award. 

Despite stiff competition the award was won by work into fourth generation biofuels which sees cutting-edge research in synthetic biology create bacteria that produce oils identical to diesel.

The breakthrough, led by Prof John Love and backed by Shell, is important because the bacterial fuel can substitute directly for retail petroleum products. These biofuels will help mitigate rising CO2 emissions and could also solve the fuel-or-food dilemma, as the bacteria thrive on waste.

This breakthrough technology is the focus of a major project involving academic and industry groups from the UK and USA.

These bio-fuels not only offer a viable alternative to normal fuels but are designed to be carbon negative due to the CO2 capture built into the fuels.

Fourth-generation technology combines genetically optimized feedstocks, which are designed to capture large amounts of carbon, with synthesized microbes, which are made to efficiently make fuels.