University of Detroit Mercy and Wayne State University developing "pethanol"
Using corn to create ethanol is becoming rather widespread these days, as farmers and certain political entities have been pushing it as a fuel alternative for the last several years. Almost all of us have used ethanol in our cars, whether we wanted to or not, as it has been used in a blend with gasoline for years now.
Corn may not be the best source for ethanol, however, as there is not enough of it to go around, nor enough land to grow enough. Opponents of corn for ethanol would rather see the corn eaten than used for fuel. Researchers from colleges in Michigan and Ohio have a possible solution brewing: use peat instead of corn. Peat is half rotted plant matter that covers much of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In fact, Michigan ranks behind just Alaska and Minnesota in peat resources.
Peat is easily and cheaply collected and, the researchers say, easily restored. Work continues on a natural enzyme to convert peat to ethanol. It has already been done, but not under practical conditions. The researchers say that they hope to use the "pethanol" to power fuel cells without using on-board hydrogen storage to power small vehicles, such as golf carts.
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[Source: detnews.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim 7:17PM (12/27/2006)
Anything but corn!!!
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online auctions 9:20AM (12/28/2006)
is there a chance that it can be developped for "bigger" cars in the future or is it just limited to golf carts?
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Ken 1:06PM (12/28/2006)
I'm sure it could be with time and developement adapted to larger vehicles, probably just a problem of storing enough fuel for an adequate range. I like ethanol but feel any biofuel is an improvement over simply gulping away at the oil. Since I don't hear of too many people eating peat I guess this will silence a lot of Ethanol naysayers as an good compromise.
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dennis 6:32PM (1/01/2007)
there are many sources of feed stock other than corn,
sugar cane(brazill), cassava(south africa), and sugar beets, just to name a few.
fears of "burning our food" are poorly founded as those who are using this aregument are overlooking the fact that a 52 lb bushed of corn yealds 2+ gallons of ethanol, AND 20+ lds of brewers grain. brewers grain can be used for animal feed, and,if the corn was human consumption quality, human consumption. ever eaten corn chips?? then you have, most likely, eaten brewers grain. the ethonal extraction process affects the nutritional value of the corn verry little.
as far as turning peat moss into fuel...the enzyme that is needed to do that is the same one needed to turn long stem cellulose (switch grass, paper pulp) to fuel. i beleave it is bio-engeneered(i could be wrong) and, as yet, cost prohibitative.
let's hope for a break thru on that front. till then, corn based ethanol is< probably the best "transistional" alternative available.
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