Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Sawdust into Biofuel

Among the most promising biofuels are those made from waste products. A new chemical breakthrough reveals how to turn sawdust into biofuel.
Tags: environment, gore's challenge
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  • 3 comments
janetmiles

janetmiles

July 18 2008, 23:20:24 UTC 12 years ago

And there was just a report on WUOT this morning about a company called AgroGas, here in Tennessee, that claims to be able to make ethanol out of crop waste, like corn stalks, and out of the ubiquitous kudzu.

Question, though, since you live in farm country: the guy was talking about how it was a pain to plow under stuff like stalks, and I wondered "but doesn't that act like mulch / fertilizer / what not?".
browngirl

browngirl

July 19 2008, 01:17:57 UTC 12 years ago

I'm not a farmer, I just know a little biology, but plowing under stalks can be hard on equipment and also can deplete the soil of oxygen as they rot before the nutrients become available again as fertilizer.

(To mulch they'd have to stay atop the soil anyway.)

I'm really excited to hear of ethanol being made from non-food sources like sawdust and crop stalks. Anything with enough glucose in it can be made into ethanol, cellulose is a polymer of glucose, and these plant materials are rich in cellulose, so this could be a good way to turn waste into energy that wouldn't have the obvious problems that making food into ethanol does. *hopes very hard*
dianavilliers

dianavilliers

July 19 2008, 00:31:54 UTC 12 years ago

I like the idea of algae-produced bio-diesel from sewerage.