From plant to power
Petrol might yet survive the green revolution. Some investors are taking seriously the con- cept of ‘green gasoline’ — transforming the woody remains of plants into exact replicas of today’s transportation fuels.
Many see promise because, unlike other biofuels, this product would blend smoothly into today’s petrol-driven infrastructure. “This is one I like. It’s got a chance of making it,” says Lanny Schmidt, a chemical engineer who works on combustion processes and alternative fuels at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Yet this ‘biomass-to-liquid’ approach is one of the least known in the biofuels portfolio, and barely makes a dent in alternative fuel quotas.
Credits: NATURE|Vol 461|8 October 2009
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