Ice cream and shampoo to become biofuel feedstock?

A joint research project between Finland-based Turku University and Manchester University in the UK believe it has found a way to unlock clean fuel from some obscure feedstocks.

A fatty acid compound found in ice cream, which also resides in other items like shampoo and soap, could be a long-term solution to replace fossil fuels through hydrocarbon chemical manipulation.

‘The key is to match up the correct biocatalyst with the specific product you are trying to make,’ says Manchester team leader Nick Turner. ‘Biocatalysts recognise molecules in the way that a lock recognises a key. They have to fit perfectly together to work but, sometimes, we redesign the lock so that if can accept a slightly different key allowing us to make even more interesting products.’

Turner and his team believe it will still take ‘several years’ of development before a working fuel could be utilised from the technique however.