2012-01-31, 14:15
Water plants to become a source for bio fuel production
© Prweb.com photo.
Scientists came up with an idea on how to extract ethanol or alcohol from water plants. Previously, it was thought that it is impossible to produce ethanol from water plants because of their high levels of sugar, which succumbed to the fermentation processes. Geneticists have created special bacteria breaking down sugar content in these water plants. U.S. Californian Company Bio Architecture Lab started using these bacteria, which are transforming plant sugar into acid. This acid and its salts (ammonium, calcium, sodium, and potassium) are very useful. Most of these acids exit in certain algae species such as laminaria. If such a way is invented of extracting ethanol from plants, then on sea shores, new marine plant farms can be established. It is announced that out of dry weight sea plants, 0.28 liter of ethanol can be produced. It is estimated that of one hectare of sea plants, 19 thousand liters of ethanol can be produced. This result is two times better than extracting ethanol from sugar cane and five times better than extracting it from corn. Economic benefits are high because sea plants do not require any fertilization and watering. Also, water plants do not have lignin. Thus, sugar in water plants can be separated and crush plants into biomass.
