“Green” Gasoline Created From Sugar and Carbs

September 21st, 2008

Two research teams are announcing this month that they have successfully converted sugar-potentially derived from agricultural waste and non-food plants-into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and a range of other valuable chemicals.

What? Yeah…they are saying that they can get fuel from sugar. A renewable source that many find intriguing as it is something that is in line with the current infrastructure in society.

Now…the science behind all of this is beyond me, but the bottom line is that This chemical trick uses nano-sized particles to produce plant-based gasoline that can be used in existing vehicles in place of petroleum-based fuels. But because they would be made from corn, switchgrass or other plants — which absorb carbon dioxide as they grow — the fuels would emit less net carbon dioxide than normal gasoline.

“You have a conventional fuel that happens to be made from sustainable sources,” says James Dumesic, a chemical engineer at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who led the research, which appears online September 18 in Science.

Very interesting. I know this concept has been out there since the turn of the century, but to see the announcement this week is encouraging. Hearing all this nonsense about offshore drilling that won’t even help us for 20 years seems sort of counterproductive when you hear about technologies like this. It would serve me better comparing online auto insurance quotes right now than to worry about off shore drilling. At least there I know I will be saving some money and I won’t be getting taxed on a useless endeavor.