JP2015070819A - Generating method of biofuel, and biofuel generating means - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a generating method of biofuel and biofuel generating means in which biofuel is readily and easily generated semipermanently depending on sunlight by utilizing photosynthetic reaction performed by a plant.SOLUTION: Biofuel generating means 1 for generating biofuel which is used in a biofuel cell comprises: a collecting needle 11 injected into a plant 100 for collecting sap of the plant 100; and a collection container 13 which communicates with the collecting needle 11 and houses sucrase. In the collection container 13, sucrose contained in the collected sap is allowed to react with sucrase, and decomposed into glucose and fructose to generate biofuel.

Description

  TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a biofuel production method and biofuel production means, and more particularly, a biofuel production method and biofuel that produce a biofuel semipermanently depending on sunlight using a photosynthetic reaction performed by a plant. It relates to generation means.

  Biofuel cells using oxidoreductase as a reaction catalyst are attracting attention as a next-generation fuel cell with high safety because electrons can be efficiently extracted from biofuels such as glucose (also called glucose). Yes.

  For example, Patent Document 1 has a structure in which a proton conductor is sandwiched between a positive electrode and a negative electrode, decomposes fuel using an enzyme to generate power, and the fuel is at least one of maltose, sucrose, and lactose. And the enzyme promotes the degradation of the polysaccharide to produce a monosaccharide, the oxidase that promotes the degradation of the produced monosaccharide and decomposes, and the oxidation of the monosaccharide. And a coenzyme oxidase that returns the reduced coenzyme to an oxidant and passes electrons to the negative electrode via an electron mediator.

  Patent Document 2 has a structure in which a positive electrode and a negative electrode are opposed to each other via a proton conductor, and an enzyme, microorganism or cell and an electron mediator are used for at least one of the positive electrode and the negative electrode, and the proton A polyanion or polycation having a charge having the same sign as the charge of the oxidized or reduced form of the electron mediator and a charge having the same sign as the charge of the oxidized or reduced form of the electron mediator on the proton conductor And the proton conductor is made of an electrolyte containing a buffer solution in which imidazole and hydrochloric acid are mixed.

  Further, Patent Document 3 discloses a fuel solution storage unit that stores a fuel solution used in a biofuel cell having an electrode on which an enzyme is present, and a solution that has been used in the biofuel cell. A waste liquid storage unit, and a liquid feeding mechanism for discharging the fuel solution and sucking the solution after use, and injecting the fuel solution in the fuel solution storage unit into the biofuel cell, A fuel container for a biofuel cell is disclosed that collects a used solution in a fuel cell in the waste liquid reservoir.

JP 2006-24555 A JP 2008-305559 A JP 2011-258549 A

  However, although the technologies of Patent Documents 1 and 2 described above are excellent technologies that can efficiently extract electrons from biofuel such as glucose, the technologies around the biofuel cell, that is, for example, biofuel can be easily used. In addition, there has been a demand for establishing a technique for easily generating the data.

  The present invention has been proposed in view of the above circumstances, and the production of biofuel that easily and easily produces biofuel semipermanently depending on sunlight by utilizing the photosynthetic reaction performed by plants. The object is to provide a method and biofuel production means.

  In order to achieve the above object, a method for producing a biofuel according to the present invention is a method for producing a biofuel used in a biofuel cell having an electrode on the surface of which an sap of a plant is collected, This is a method for producing the biofuel by reacting sucrose contained in the sap with sucrose and decomposing it into glucose and fructose.

  Further, the biofuel generating means of the present invention is a biofuel generating means for generating biofuel used in a biofuel cell having an electrode on the surface of which an enzyme is present, in order to collect plant sap, A collection needle that pierces the plant, and a collection container that communicates with the collection needle and contains sucrase, in which the sucrose contained in the collected sap is reacted with the sucrase, and glucose and fructose The biofuel is generated by being decomposed into

  According to the biofuel production method and biofuel production means of the present invention, biofuel can be produced easily and easily by utilizing the photosynthetic reaction performed by plants.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a biofuel production method and biofuel production means according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic view for explaining a main part of a biofuel generation method and biofuel generation means according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic enlarged view of the main part for explaining the biofuel generation method and biofuel generation means according to the first application example of the present invention, (a) shows a front view, (b) ) Shows an AA arrow view. FIG. 4 is a schematic view for explaining a biofuel production method and biofuel production means according to a second application example of the present invention, and (a) shows an enlarged view of a state in which sap is collected. (B) shows an enlarged view of a state in which the generated biofuel is supplied.

[One Embodiment of Biofuel Generation Method and Biofuel Generation Unit]
The biofuel production method according to the present embodiment is a biofuel production method used for a biofuel cell, which will be described later. The sap 101 of the plant 100 is collected, and sucrose (sucrose contained in the sap 101 is collected. Is also reacted with sucrase 15 (an enzyme that catalyzes a reaction that hydrolyzes sucrose) and breaks down into glucose (also called glucose) and fructose (also called fructose) to produce biofuel 102 To do.

Further, in FIG. 1, the biofuel generating means 1 of the present embodiment communicates with the collection needle 11 inserted into the plant 100 to collect the sap 101 of the plant 100, and the sucrase 15 A collection container 13 or the like that houses (not shown in FIG. 1) is provided.
This biofuel generating means 1 is used in the above-described biofuel cell 2 and the like by reacting sucrose contained in the collected sap 101 with sucrose 15 in the collection container 13 and decomposing it into glucose and fructose. Biofuel 102 is produced.

Here, preferably, the plant 100 is a foliage plant. If it does in this way, a plant in the neighborhood can be used. In addition, it is possible to improve awareness of energy saving and environmental protection by generating electricity using nearby plants.
The foliage plant is a plant that grows mainly to create a natural atmosphere indoors. Oryzae (Liliaceae), Sansevieria (Agaveaceae), Chef Lera (Araceae), Spatiphyllum (Araceae), Dracaena (Agaveaceae), Neoregeria (Pineappleceae), Pachira (Panagiaceae), Benjamin (Mulaceae), Potos ( Taro family), monstera (Araceae family), Rex begonia (Scalyceae family) and the like.

  In addition, the plant 100 may be a tree growing on a park, a school site, etc. Even in this way, by generating electricity using a nearby plant, awareness of energy saving and environmental protection is achieved. Can be improved.

In the biofuel production method of the present embodiment, the collection needle 11 is inserted into the plant 100, and the sap 101 is collected in the collection container 13 communicating with the collection needle 11. If it does in this way, the sap 101 can be extract | collected easily and the damage to the plant 100 can be reduced.
Further, the biofuel generating means 1 of the present embodiment communicates the collection needle 11 and the collection container 13 via the tube 12, and the collection container 13 is held on the plant 100 by the holding means 14 such as a belt. Has been.

The collection needle 11 is generally composed of a cylindrical needle body 111 and a base 112 to which the needle body 111 is attached (see FIG. 2) like an injection needle.
Further, the length and thickness (inner diameter) of the needle body 11 are appropriately set according to the type of the plant 100, the thickness of the trunk of the plant 100, and the like.

Here, preferably, the depth of the tip of the stabbed collection needle 11 is usually 10% or more and 20% or less of the diameter (φD) of the trunk of the plant 100. This is because if it is less than 10%, the sap 101 may not be collected efficiently, and if it exceeds 20%, the plant 100 may be damaged.
Moreover, the sampling needle 11 is usually inserted into the hole after the sampling needle 11 is screwed directly into the plant 100 or a hole is made with a drill or the like.

Preferably, the collection container 13 has a negative pressure inside, and the sap 101 is sucked into the collection container 13. In this way, the sap 101 can be collected in a short time.
For example, in FIG. 2, a vacuum collection tube 13 a is used as a collection container 13 having a negative pressure inside, as a container whose pressure is reduced.
The vacuum sampling tube 13a has a structure substantially similar to that of the vacuum blood collection tube, and includes a bottomed tubular tube body 131 and a cap 132 that is attached to the upper portion of the tube body 131 and maintains a vacuumed state. It has become.
In FIG. 2, a joint 123 connected to the base 112 of the sampling needle 11 is attached to one end of the tube 12, and the needle 121 inserted into the cap 131 is attached to the other end of the tube 12. A cover 122 for housing the needle 121 is attached.

Preferably, sucrase 15 is stored in the collection container 13 in advance, and the collected sap 101 is reacted with the sucrose 15 in the collection container 13 to decompose glucose and fructose, and the biofuel 102 is decomposed. It may be generated. This eliminates the need for replacing the collected sap 101 with a reaction container, and improves workability.
For example, in FIG. 2, the sucrase 15 is stored in advance in the vacuum collection tube 13 a, and the collected sap 101 reacts with the sucrase 15 and becomes biofuel 102.

Moreover, the sap used by this invention means the liquid used as the nutrient contained in the plant. The sap flowing from the root of the plant to the leaf along the conduit is called conduit fluid, and the sap flowing from the leaf to each tissue is called phloem sap.
The conduit fluid contains water and minerals (inorganic ions) absorbed by the roots from the soil, and organic substances such as amino acids (such as curtamine) and sugars (such as sucrose) that are synthesized and secreted by the root cells. Yes.
The phloem fluid contains proteins synthesized and secreted by leaf cells, high concentrations of sucrose, amino acids (glutamine), and the like.

  In the plant 100 of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the heartwood 104 is located at the center of the trunk, and the marrow 103 is located almost at the center of the heartwood 104. Further, the wood part 105 and the phloem 107 are located outside the core material 104 with the formation layer 106 interposed therebetween, and the outer bark 108 is located outside the mentor part 107. In addition, the above mentor pipe is in the mentor 107 and the conduit is in the xylem 105. As shown in FIG. 2, the collection needle 11 collects phloem sap as sap. However, it is not limited to this, The sap used by this invention is a liquid used as the nutrient contained in a plant, and should just be a liquid containing sucrose.

In addition, a biofuel cell in which the biofuel 102 is used is not illustrated, but includes an electrode having an enzyme on its surface (that is, a negative electrode and a positive electrode), and the negative electrode and the positive electrode conduct only protons. It has the structure which faced through.
In this biofuel cell, when glucose is supplied to the negative electrode side, the glucose is decomposed by a decomposing enzyme containing an oxidase. Since oxidase is involved in the monosaccharide decomposition process, electrons and H ⁺ can be generated on the negative electrode side, and a current can be generated between the negative electrode and the positive electrode.
Note that the basic configuration of this biofuel cell is substantially the same as that of the above-described fuel cell of Patent Document 2, and therefore detailed description thereof is omitted.

Next, the operation of the biofuel generating means 1 will be described.
First, the plant 100 is performing a photosynthesis reaction. That is, the plant 100 synthesizes carbohydrates (sugars: for example, sucrose (eg, sucrose)) from water and carbon dioxide in the air using light energy, and oxygen generated in the process of decomposing water in the atmosphere. To supply. In addition, the sap 101 of the plant 100 contains sucrose.

In the biofuel generating means 1, the collection needle 11 is stabbed into the plant 100, and the sap 101 is dropped into the collection container 13 through the tube 12.
Here, depending on the plant 100, the sap 101 may not drop well, but in such a case, the collection container 13 is set to a negative pressure (for example, using the vacuum blood collection tube 13a (see FIG. 2)). ), The sap 101 may be collected. When the sap 101 is dripped too much, the dripping amount is controlled by a flow rate control valve or the like.

The collection container 13 contains the sucrose 15, and the sucrose (sucrose) contained in the dropped sap 101 reacts with sucrose (an enzyme that catalyzes a reaction that hydrolyzes sucrose), and glucose (glucose) and fructose. It is decomposed into (fructose) and becomes biofuel 102.
Note that the biofuel 102 has glucose (glucose) and fructose (fructose), and as described above, the biofuel cell generates power using glucose (glucose). Here, although the biofuel 102 contains fructose (fructose), since the fructose (fructose) has almost no adverse effect on power generation, the biofuel 102 may usually contain fructose (fructose).
The collection container 13 storing the biofuel 102 is removed from the tube 12 and the plant 100, for example, and attached to a biofuel cell (not shown). The biofuel 102 from the collection container 13 is transferred to the biofuel cell. Supplied.

As described above, according to the biofuel generation method and biofuel generation means 1 of the present embodiment, the biofuel is semipermanently dependent on sunlight using the photosynthesis reaction performed by the plant 100. 102 can be generated. Further, since the sap 101 is collected in the collection container 13 that pierces the plant 100 and communicates with the collection needle 11 and contains the sucrase 15, the biofuel 102 is easily and easily generated. be able to.
Moreover, this embodiment has various application examples.
Next, application examples of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

<First application example of biofuel generation method and biofuel cell system>
In FIG. 3, the biofuel generation method and biofuel cell system of the first application example have a sampling needle 11b and a joint 123b instead of the sampling needle 11 and the joint 123, as compared with the above-described embodiment. The points are different. Note that other configurations of the application example are substantially the same as those of the biofuel generating means 1.
Therefore, in FIG. 3, the same components as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

The sampling needle 11b has a needle main body 111b and a base 112b, and a through hole 115 is formed in the approximate center between the needle main body 111b and the base 112b.
The needle body 111b has external threads 113 formed on the outer surface, and a plurality of through-holes 116 along the horizontal direction and a plurality of through-holes 117 along the vertical direction.
The base 112b has a substantially cylindrical shape, and a cross groove 114 that engages with a plus driver (not shown) is formed at the end.
Since this collection needle 11b has a male screw 113 formed on the outer surface, the collection needle 11b can be directly inserted into the plant 100 by tightening a wood screw, thereby improving convenience and the like.
Further, the collection needle 11b can effectively extract the sap by the plurality of through holes 116 and 117 communicating with the through hole 115.

The joint 123 b includes a joint body 124 and a cylindrical elastic body 125, and a through hole 126 is formed in the approximate center of the joint body 124.
A rubber cylinder or the like is used as the cylindrical elastic body 125. One end of the joint main body 124 is press-fitted to the right side of the cylindrical elastic body 125, and the other end is press-fitted into the tube 12. The
The joint 123b is easily connected to the sampling needle 11b by press-fitting the base 112b of the sampling needle 11b to the left side of the cylindrical elastic body 125.
In addition, the structure of said joint 123b is an example, and is not limited to this.

  As described above, the biofuel generation method and the biofuel cell system according to the present application example have almost the same effects as those of the above-described embodiment, and the sampling needle 11b is directly inserted into the plant 100 by tightening the wood screw. Therefore, convenience and the like can be improved.

<Second application example of biofuel generation method and biofuel cell system>
In FIG. 4, the biofuel generation method and biofuel cell system of the second application example differ from the above-described embodiment in that a vacuum sampling tube 13c is provided instead of the vacuum sampling tube 13a. The other configurations of this application example are almost the same as those of the biofuel generating means 1.
Therefore, in FIG. 4, the same components as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The vacuum sampling tube 13c includes a substantially cylindrical tube body 131c, a cap 132 attached to the upper end of the tube body 131c, a microfilter 133 attached to a substantially middle stage, the stored sucrose 15, and a bottom cap 132c attached to the lower end. have. As will be described later, the vacuum sampling tube 13c is used as a biofuel supply container for supplying the generated biofuel 102.

  Further, the vacuum sampling tube 13c used as the biofuel supply container is inserted into the insertion hole 21 of the biofuel cell 2 as shown in FIG. The insertion hole 21 has a lid portion 22 that rotates or elastically deforms at the top, and a needle 24 that communicates with the flow path 23 projects from the bottom.

  When producing the biofuel 102, the vacuum sampling tube 13c is inserted with the needle 121 of the cap 132, and the sap 101 is dripped from the needle 121 as shown in FIG. Foreign matter is removed from the dropped sap 101 by the microfilter 133, and biofuel 102 is generated by the sucrase 15.

Then, when using the generated biofuel 102, as shown in FIG. 4B, the needle 121 is removed from the cap 132, and the vacuum sampling tube 13c is inserted into the insertion hole 21 of the biofuel cell 2. Is done. In the inserted vacuum sampling tube 13c, the needle 24 is inserted into the bottom cap 132c, and the biofuel 102 flows out to the flow path 23.
Note that the bottom cap 132c has a funnel-like slope formed on the top surface, so that the biofuel 102 can be used up to the last few drops.
The bottom cap 132c is made of an elastic body and is fixed to the lower end of the vacuum sampling tube 13c, but is not limited to this configuration. For example, it is good also as a structure which has a bottom plate (not shown) which has a rotation type and sealing property instead of the bottom cap 132c.

  As described above, the biofuel generation method and the biofuel cell system according to this application example have substantially the same effects as those of the above-described embodiment, and the biofuel for supplying the generated biofuel 102 to the vacuum collection tube 13c. Since it can be used as a supply container, convenience and the like can be improved.

The biofuel production method and biofuel production means of the present invention have been described with reference to the preferred embodiments. However, the biofuel production method and biofuel production means according to the present invention are the same as those described above. Needless to say, the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention.
For example, in the biofuel generating means 1, the collected collection container 13 is removed from, for example, the tube 12 and the plant 100 and attached to a biofuel cell (not shown). Although it is supplied to the fuel cell, it is not limited to this. For example, although not illustrated, the collection container 13 may be connected to the biofuel cell, and the biofuel 102 may be directly supplied from the collection container 13 to the biofuel cell. In this way, the biofuel generating means 1 can supply the biofuel 102 almost automatically to the biofuel cell, so that convenience and the like can be greatly improved.

1 Biofuel production means 2 Biofuel cell
11, 11b Sampling needle
12 Tube 13 Collection container
13a Vacuum sampling tube 14 Holding means 15 Sucrase 21 Insertion hole 22 Lid 23 Flow path 24 Needle 100 Plant 101 Sap 102 Biofuel 103 Pith 104 Heartwood 105 Wood part 106 Formation layer 107 Master part Outer bark 111, 111b Needle body 112 112b Base 113 Male thread 114 Cross groove 115, 116, 117 Through hole 121 Needle 122 Cover 123, 123b Joint 124 Joint body 125 Cylindrical elastic body 126 Through hole 131 Pipe body 132 Cap 132c Bottom cap 133 Microfilter

Claims (8)

A method for producing a biofuel for use in a biofuel cell comprising an electrode having an enzyme on its surface,
A method for producing a biofuel comprising collecting plant sap, reacting sucrose contained in the sap with sucrose, and decomposing it into glucose and fructose.   The method for producing biofuel according to claim 1, wherein the plant is stabbed with a collection needle and the sap is collected in a collection container communicating with the collection needle.   The method for producing biofuel according to claim 2, wherein the sucrase is stored in the collection container.   The method for producing biofuel according to claim 3, wherein the collection container is used as a biofuel supply container for supplying the produced biofuel.   The biofuel production method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the collection container has a negative pressure inside, and the sap is sucked into the collection container.   The biofuel production method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein a male screw is formed on an outer surface of the sampling needle.   The method for producing biofuel according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the plant is a foliage plant. A biofuel generating means for generating biofuel used in a biofuel cell having an electrode having an enzyme on its surface,
In order to collect the sap of a plant, a sampling needle stabbed into the plant;
A collection container communicating with the collection needle and containing sucrase;
The biofuel generating means characterized in that the biofuel is generated by reacting sucrose contained in the collected sap with the sucrose in the collection container and decomposing it into glucose and fructose.

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