Nanoscale Catalysts Could Turn Garbage Into Cheap Source Of Ethanol

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 - 18:35 in Physics & Chemistry

Biofuels are a bad word these days, due to the fact that everyone from Al Gore to George Bush thought ethanol was a good idea due to a lack of understanding actual science much less basic economics. But before grain ethanol and biodiesel there was 'gasification' and it's getting a new look from researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University. By combining gasification with high-tech nanoscale porous catalysts, they hope to create ethanol from a wide range of biomass, including distiller's grain left over from ethanol production, corn stover from the field, grass, wood pulp, animal waste, and garbage. Read More...

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