$1/Gallon "Green Gasoline" In Sight

mattnyc99 writes "We've gotten excited here about the startup that claims it can make $1/gallon ethanol out of anything from trash to tires. But we've also seen how cellulosic ethanol is a better option, and how ethanol demand in general is only adding to the worldwide food crisis. So what about $1/gallon gasoline? NSF-funded researchers at UMass Amherst just completed the first direct conversion from cellulose using a new method of hydrocarbon refining, which they claim can be commercialized within 5-10 years and essentially make fuel out of anything that grows. Quoting: 'We already have the infrastructure in place to distribute liquid fuels. We're using them to power transportation vehicles today, and I think that's what we'll be using in 10 years and in 50 years,' Huber says. 'And if you want a sustainable liquid transportation fuel, biomass is the only way to go.'" The process is running at about 50% efficiency now; the $1/gallon figure is based on getting to 100%.

Comments

Re:"out of anything that grows" ...

[zsau]

I don't have any mod points because I don't usually moderate so I've disabled them, but what they hey:

+1 funny
+1 insightful

Re:I say!

[drinkypoo]

Consider your car excuse: The total amount of waste is exactly the same. It just gets separated into multiple containers. And when it comes to cans, just bag them and take them with you to the supermarket, recycle them on your way in, get groceries on the way out. It's really not that hard.

Recycling is a boondoggle. It takes more energy to recycle glass or bimetal than to just make new stuff. Most plastics are sorted and then landfilled (Australia has taken a lot of the USA's plastic bottles.)

Recycling of anything other than electronics and batteries is a bunch of horseshit at this point.

This is a much bigger issue than the difficulty of recycling. Mind you, I recycle everything I can; they have forced me to do so by shrinking the trash can and giving me a gigantic recycling can into which I cannot put the majority of my trash because, even if it is technically recyclable, it is not marked for recycling.