Orange You Glad We Didn't Say Switchgrass?
Fruit may be the latest source for biofuel madness
Could your kumquat power your Kia? A team of U.S. scientists has made a low-carbon fuel from fructose, the sugar in many fruits. It could be a better bet than ethanol, with 40 percent more energy, less vulnerability to water, and more stability; since it can also be made from plant cellulose, it could also skirt the food-vs.-fuel debate. DMF -- 2,5-dimethylfuran, the result of mixing fructose with salt water, hydrochloric acid, a solvent, and a copper-coated catalyst -- "should be a great fuel," says James Dumesic of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His team has made only small batches, and unknowns abound. But Dumesic says, "We could make this happen [on a large scale] within the next few years if we are told from an environmental safety point of view that this would be a good thing to do. The process ... is very much like a petroleum process, and the knowledge of the petroleum industry in scaling things up could all apply here." Yeah, Big Oil will definitely want to play along with this one.
Fruit may be the latest source for biofuel madness
Could your kumquat power your Kia? A team of U.S. scientists has made a low-carbon fuel from fructose, the sugar in many fruits. It could be a better bet than ethanol, with 40 percent more energy, less vulnerability to water, and more stability; since it can also be made from plant cellulose, it could also skirt the food-vs.-fuel debate. DMF -- 2,5-dimethylfuran, the result of mixing fructose with salt water, hydrochloric acid, a solvent, and a copper-coated catalyst -- "should be a great fuel," says James Dumesic of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His team has made only small batches, and unknowns abound. But Dumesic says, "We could make this happen [on a large scale] within the next few years if we are told from an environmental safety point of view that this would be a good thing to do. The process ... is very much like a petroleum process, and the knowledge of the petroleum industry in scaling things up could all apply here." Yeah, Big Oil will definitely want to play along with this one.
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straight to the source: The Daily Telegraph, Roger Highfield, 21 Jun 2007
straight to the source: IndustryWeek, Agence France-Presse, 21 Jun 2007
straight to the source: BBC News, Matt McGrath, 21 Jun 2007
straight to the source: Scientific American, David Biello, 20 Jun 2007
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