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View Full Version : Hold the Corn! Researchers Tout Furan-Based Transportation Fuels



AZEqualizer
08-12-2008, 05:42 PM
Researchers at the University of California at Davis have developed a process for making a new kind of biofuel -- one they say is cheap, easy to make and takes advantage of hard-to-use cellulose.

Research published by Mark Mascal and Edward Nikitin in the German journal Angewandte Chemie describes a method to transform biomass into fuels that could be used as substitutes for diesel fuel.


In an e-mail to Greenwire, a subscription-only environmental news service, Mascal said his process very efficiently turns raw materials into fuel and is simple and inexpensive compared to processes to make ethanol from cellulose.


Today, furanics are widely used in the chemicals industry, especially in the production of plastics, he said. A 2004 Energy Department study pointed to the potential for sugars to be made into a furan-based building block for the PET plastics used in beverage containers and films.


This according to an article on Green Car Advisor (http://blogs.edmunds.com/greencaradvisor/2008/08/hold-the-corn-researchers-tout-furan-based-transportation-fuels.html) Use the link for the full article.

Miracleman89
08-13-2008, 01:54 AM
I am always intriqued at how different alternative fuels and new methods of developement are being introduced almost on a weekly bases. Where was all this advancement 10 years ago when the technology could actually have been implemented now!
Oh well at least they are doing it now. Better late then never I guess.