Superweed could one day replace crude oil

Miscanthus is a genus of about 15 species of perennial grasses that is native tropical regions of Africa and outhern Asia. It is also being grown at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in a partnership with UC Berkeley $500 million Energy Biosciences Institute funded by British oil company BP. John Caveny is hoping that this ‘superweed’ will one day replace crude oil as a biofuel. After harvest, it can be burned to produce heat and power turbines and the carbon dioxide emissions that result from this are equivalent to the amount used during the plant’s growing phrase. This makes the process greenhouse-gas neutral. If it is mixed with coal at 50%-50%, it can be used in some coal-burning power plants without modifications. Caveny is working with a commercial partner, Speedling Inc, to produce the plant in Florida for sale as a transplant to farmers across the United States.  As the agriculture industry continues to use more cellulose-based biofuel such as Miscanthus, the Bush administration’s goal of replacing 30% of US gasoline use with biofuel by 2030 can definitely be achievable.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/11/ALTENERGY.TMP

Add comment June 11th, 2007 Alex