Difference between revisions of "Team:CSU Fort Collins/Description"

 
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<h1>Description</h1>
 
<h1>Description</h1>
 
   
 
   
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<h2>Introduction</h2>
 
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<p>Ever started peeling and orange and automatically been overtaken by the beautiful smell of citrus? The cyclic terpene limonene can be thanked for that. This platform chemical is found in beauty products, common household cleaners, and acts as a biological solvent. The versatility of this chemical is endless, and the great thing is that it is environmentally friendly, as it is naturally produced by citrus fruits, lavender, and strangely enough, Chinese catnip. <p>
 
  
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<p> There are different extraction methods of limonene, the most common one uses steam distillation. Getting into the nitty gritty of this extraction process proves to be pretty irrelevant and boring, so why do we care? Well, waste orange peels are typically used to supply different companies with their fair share of this fruity oil, but orange prices are not stable at all. With all of the fluctuating factors that are put into growing a single orange, it is easy to see how this could be a very slippery slope. This is one important factor that attracted us to the idea of experimenting with the production methods of limonene.<p>
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<p>Have you ever started peeling an orange and instantaneously been overtaken by the beautiful smell of citrus? The cyclic monoterpene limonene can be thanked for that. The versatility of limonene is impressive and will only grow as more of it becomes available and more people find more uses for it. Limonene is currently found in beauty products, common household cleaners, and food. It can alleviate petrol dependence, as it shows promise towards use as a platform for plastics or as a biofuel.</p>
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<p>Limonene is naturally synthesized in small amounts by several plants. We typically extract it from oranges via steam distillation. This method is time consuming and inefficient, hence the large price tag on a kilogram of limonene. Additionally, the current methods rely almost exclusively on production of oranges, a business that is filled with price fluctuations due to disease, pests, early freezes and natural disasters. This makes limonene production fickle and certainly not up to the task of providing the world with renewable fuel or plastics. </p>
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<p>Limonene is kind of like Leonardo DiCaprio winning an Oscar: so close to being accredited to greatness, but never really fulfills this prophecy. This is a chemical that exists in so many different types of products and has a myriad of different applications. The applicability is a very pivotal feature of limonene, but another one of its' perks is that it is a biodegradable chemical as it is naturally produced by plants in the environment. The chemical structure of this molecule is so versatile that scientists are looking to create a biodegradable plastic called polylimonene carbonate in the future.<p>
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<p>The current methods for limonene acquisition are primitive and dull in comparison to what we have in mind. We seek to alter the metabolic processes of the archaea <i>Thermococcus kodakarensis</i> in such a way that it produces limonene. While the idea of using microbes as cellular factories, or even using microbes specifically to produce limonene, is not novel, though the usage of an archaeal organism to do so is. Attempts with organisms such as <i>Escherichia coli</i> have proven inadequate as the acidic environment that limonene creates is toxic to the producing organisms. With yields often falling short of 1%, this method is hardly better than extraction from orange peels. <i>T. kodakarensis</i> offers a readily available production vessel that can survive in up to 20% limonene concentrations. Additionally, its metabolic pathways require only the addition of a single protein for synthesis of limonene. </p>
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<p>Low production rates have kept limonene from being viewed as a viable source of energy and to that we say "when life gives you oranges, make a little bit of limonene, but when life gives you archaea, make massive amounts of limonene."
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<p>Just like the people want Leo to win an Oscar, we want limonene to be the next big smell-good, multifaceted chemical that can change the world. When life gives you oranges make a little bit of limonene, but when life gives you archaea you make massive amounts of limonene. Note: Go Leo for finally winning an Oscar.</p>
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Latest revision as of 02:58, 2 November 2017

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Description

Have you ever started peeling an orange and instantaneously been overtaken by the beautiful smell of citrus? The cyclic monoterpene limonene can be thanked for that. The versatility of limonene is impressive and will only grow as more of it becomes available and more people find more uses for it. Limonene is currently found in beauty products, common household cleaners, and food. It can alleviate petrol dependence, as it shows promise towards use as a platform for plastics or as a biofuel.

Limonene is naturally synthesized in small amounts by several plants. We typically extract it from oranges via steam distillation. This method is time consuming and inefficient, hence the large price tag on a kilogram of limonene. Additionally, the current methods rely almost exclusively on production of oranges, a business that is filled with price fluctuations due to disease, pests, early freezes and natural disasters. This makes limonene production fickle and certainly not up to the task of providing the world with renewable fuel or plastics.

The current methods for limonene acquisition are primitive and dull in comparison to what we have in mind. We seek to alter the metabolic processes of the archaea Thermococcus kodakarensis in such a way that it produces limonene. While the idea of using microbes as cellular factories, or even using microbes specifically to produce limonene, is not novel, though the usage of an archaeal organism to do so is. Attempts with organisms such as Escherichia coli have proven inadequate as the acidic environment that limonene creates is toxic to the producing organisms. With yields often falling short of 1%, this method is hardly better than extraction from orange peels. T. kodakarensis offers a readily available production vessel that can survive in up to 20% limonene concentrations. Additionally, its metabolic pathways require only the addition of a single protein for synthesis of limonene.

Low production rates have kept limonene from being viewed as a viable source of energy and to that we say "when life gives you oranges, make a little bit of limonene, but when life gives you archaea, make massive amounts of limonene."