Cellulosic Fuel Condenses Millions of Years of Processes into Two Minutes

by Andrea Millar — April 19, 2008

Well, I didn't know we were waiting for a breakthrough in cellulosic fuels--I sort of thought that had already happened. But just to show how little I know, a bunch of scientists have recently published a paper in the journal Chemistry and Sustainability, Energy and Materials announcing their brand-new conversion of plant cellulose into gasoline components. It seems that this is what Bush and others were hoping for when they promised to lift us out of the messier aspects of oil dependence.

Cellulosic fuel! From switchgrass, a hardy plant that has survived as one of the US' only remaining species of native grasses--much of them were pushed out by European strains. It's tough, cattle love it, and it's rich in cellulose. Apparently the process behind the breakthrough, in which much of the delicate steps that produced the world's oil reserves are recreated in seconds, involves catalysts and a rapid heat and cooling cycle. What emerges from the cellulose/catalyst matrix is a fuel that's good to go right out of the can, so to speak.

An article in ScienceDaily very carefully quotes the energy potential of this new breakthrough as better than ethanol but also points out that it could be 5 to 10 years before we see it in pumps. At any rate, perhaps the nature of the switchgrass crop could solve some of this food/fuel confusion that seems to be occurring.

(Little do they know, in 5 to 10 years, the automobile will be completely obsolete and we'll all be on bikes! Or, I'll be on a bike. With pink streamers.)