Potatofuel

By: Jake Hobson and Chris Kenney

Why we chose this issue
We are very interested in cars whether they are vintage or modern, but one thing
most of the cars we are interested in share a similarity… They run on gasoline
engines

However we care about the planet and understand that gas guzzlers aren’t great
for the environment, additionally, ethanol dominant fuel ratios provide better for
performance
Problem
Global warming is becoming more and more prevalent the less that we worry
about it

Global warming isn’t a sole issue, but is a problem created by a bunch of things
that contribute to it

One of the small additives is motor vehicle pollution

The numbers
Concept
Biofuels were created to limit emissions
released from cars

Use GMO potatoes high in starch to extract

starch and make it into a biofuel
Blueprint
GMO Potatoes
By removing the gene that creates the enzyme which metabolizes the starch…

We get potatoes with more starch which means we can use less of them

There are 77 reported genes which develop starch metabolizing enzymes and
they are listed here:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5217216/table/Tab1/?report=object
only

Courtesy of NCBI
Potatoes Starch
The steps are as follows:
● Peel the potatoes
● (If using a cheese grater) Shred the potatoes using the cheese grater
● (If using a meat mallet) Mush the potatoes into a mush or paste
● Next place into a container and add water
● Mix around to get as much starch out of the potatoes as possible
● Pour out the water and starch solution while holding back the potato paste or
rinds into another container
● Repeat steps 5 and 6 to get as much as possible from the first rinse
● Let the solution sit until the starch settles to the bottom of the container
● Pour out any excess water but leave a small amount on top of the starch
Potatoes Starch cont
● Now gently mix the solution and pour through a strainer to filter out the rest of
the physical potato remains
● Let the starch dry and harden for a couple days
● Let the new pure water and starch solution sit for an hour
● Once the starch settles pour out all of the water in the container, leaving just
the starch on the bottom of the container
● Pour distilled water on top of the solution and mix thoroughly to clean the
starch.
● Let it settle again and pour out the dirty water
● Repeat until when the starch settles, the water on top is not super discolored
● Scoop out the starch onto a piece of printer paper with a paper towel under it
● Let the starch dry and harden for a couple days
Starch Ethanol
● Add water and the enzyme glucoamylase
● Heat shock to facilitate chemical reactions to create sugar
● Mix the mush and yeast in a sealed container without oxygen
● Filter the pure ethanol out through evaporation
● Cool the pure ethanol
● Filter out any water
*We will not use starch from grain though*
Ethanol Fuel
● Mix the Ethanol with gasoline
● Different ratios result in different biogasoline types
○ For example E85 is 85% ethanol
● Ethanols pollutants are a lot better than gasoline, but the density is a lot less
so it burns quicker
● Also most cars cant run E100
● That is why the ethanol needs to be mixed with gasoline
Biology behind it
To increase the amount of starch in the potatoes were are using, we will
genetically engineer them to produce more.

We will do this by removing the genes which create enzymes which metabolize
starch

Also in the process of making the ethanol, we must use the process of
fermentation.
Following Steps
All of our information is based on speculation from information we have
researched

We highly doubt that removing the 77 genes would be successful but we need to
conduct testing to see which would be successful

Additionally we would have to conduct tests on the fuel to test efficiency and
practicality

Once testing is conducted and the proper solution is made, full production of GMO
potatoes and of our potato E85 can proceed
Why Is this Important?
Electric cars are more efficient however having all vehicles be electric is very far
away if possible at all

So for now we can only make the fuel produce less emissions and our biofuel and
GMO potatoes combination can do just that

The development will be quite pricey but as we establish ourselves, the potatoes
will become cheaper and cheaper which will make the ethanol we produce
cheaper
Sources
https://draxe.com/potato-starch/

https://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/How_to_Make_Ethanol Making Ethanol

https://spudsmart.com/converting-potato-waste-ethanol/ Potato Ethanol