Volker Müller and other scientists in Germany have researched alternative ways to power cars that do not give off pollution like traditional gasoline.

Müller, a professor of molecular microbiology and bioenergetics at Goethe University, said he studied the use of ancient microbes for future biotechnology, which can be used as an alternative to gas because gasoline is a limited source.

The biology department invited Müller to speak to students Monday regarding his research and process.

“The microbes that we use, not the microbes per se but the metabolism that they have, is considered one of the oldest metabolisms on Earth,” Müller said.

If people think about how metabolism and bacteria life may have lived, there is a theory that they lived off the volcanic gases because that was the only way they could eat, he said.

“That must have been the first sustaining process, so if this process sustains life, then it must have a way to generate ADP,” he said.

ADP is a form of energy currency used to pay for making biomass and is found in any living cell.

Another form of energy currency is found in living cells, and it is an electrical field across the membrane.

“These two currencies have to be interchangeable, like the dollar to the euro, you would not be able to change that from one currency to the other because then you would only have one,” Müller said.

He said living systems always need these two, and the big question was how can living organisms produce these two currencies from the gas like hydrogen.

This is what he said he has figured out over the years and what he is interested in, the next step then being carbon dioxide, and the cells produce acetate as one component.

“The other component these bacteria produce is ethanol biofuel, and if you consider all the discussions in the last decades about biofuel, first generation biofuel was in corn, which started here in the U.S.,” Müller said.

The corn’s natural sugars were used as the biofuel.

He said that was when people were talking about whether it will be used as food or fuel.  They were deciding if they wanted to grow stuff that people eat and use it for fuel, which they decided against, wanting then to find a different kind of biomass to use as fuel.

Years after this was founded, Müller said he and other scientists found the ancient microbes, which can be used as a replacement for gasoline, but he said it depends on politics and what the people are willing to buy.

In principal people can use ancient microbe biofuel because it is the same kind of biofuels as corn, he said.

“The fuel that we use now has two disadvantages; first of all it is limited. Does not matter how long people say it is going to run out by, it is limited,” he said. “Second, if you burn oil you produce carbon dioxide, which is the cause of global warming.”

Not putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is the advantage of the biofuel he is studying, Müller said.

Stephanie White can be reached at 581-2812 or at sewhite2@eiu.edu.