Genetic Modification for More Fuel

Ethanol is not a good fuel! E-85 is terrible and results in 25% mileage loss. Some engines are damaged by over 10% ethanol. A better fermentation fuel would be butanol or fusel oil.Ethanol has more politics behind it than science.

Only if it can be grown productively where food crops cannot be grown.

Ed Weldon

We should start making ethanol and natural gas by burning waste products with Plasma Gasification systems. The first and obvious source is muny waste, which is becoming a very critical environmental problem in the USA (it is way beyond a problem in some foreign countries). A second source could be agressive plants like Kudzu, which is taking over the plant life in our southern states. ANother source could be cattails growing wild in our river deltas, because they grow back nearly as fast as you can use them up.

Plasma gasification systems can reduce nearly any vegetation to a liquid that can be formed into solid paving material, and an oil product that can be used as a natural gas replacement, AND they can generate more electricity than they use by connecting gas turbines to them (pay-off in less than ten years).

Here is a URL that explains this mature technology:

http://www.recoveredenergy.com/

Woodward -- Looks like a promising technology. I suspect the primary hurdles are the need for capital investment and the usual opposition born of intelligent skepticism, ignorant conservatism and NIMBY's. I'm not so sure about Kudzu and cattails being practical feedstocks. It's not like you can harvest them with a combine.

On the other hand suppose the value of the material delivered to the power station exceeds the cost of transportation and manual labor to harvest. Then there may be excellent opportunities for small business entrpreneurs to provide low wage opportunities for healthy unemployed people once a system is set up.

Think about how long it would take to cut a ton of this stuff, pack into the back of a pickup truck and drive it to a satelite collection station. Sort of like the way we handle recyclables...........Ed Weldon

Plasma Gasification is already being used for municipal solid waste. Japan has two large ones. The problem of handling MSW was solved long ago, and getting it to a Plasma Gasification system is just a variation in handling.

It is true what you say about harvesting saw grasses or cattails or kudzu, but it might be worth it! Kudzu needs to be thinned out, since it kills trees and other vegetation. Cattails have a very high energy content, perhaps making it worthwhile to use it for energy purposes (both electricity and fuel).