anobium
Sugar can be fermented to produce alcohol which when distilled can be used for motor fuel, so why bother with oil?
Buck H
@anobium - partly because oil has many other uses beyond motor fuel, and because algae-based conversion is more efficient than fermentation.
Keith Pelletier
@anobium...I believe oil can be extracted directly from the plant and used with little additional processing. Distilling alcohol is more energy-intensive and the resultant product produces less energy than it took to make it. This is one of many reasons why the ethanol mandate should be phased out.
ezeflyer
Could be the new GE Malaleuca or worse. Why don't genetic engineers stick to curing cancer and things of benefit instead of experimenting with our stressed out environment?
Observer101
What becomes of the bi-products? Perhaps they can be dried, and compressed and utilized a "logs" for fireplaces as well as home heating in the future. (if mixed with the correct mixtures of weed and alcohol, they might just burn pretty cleanly? ) Something to think about, as I am certain there are tons of waste after extracting the fuel from the plants...
chidrbmt
Sugarcane is a far superior crop to use for fuel. Using corn for such is a bad,political joke. One uses a gallon of oil to produce a gallon of corn alcohol by the time it reaches a vehicle with only 2/3rds of BTUs. Good luck with the research.
Xolin
"Sugarcane grows like crazy, so if it could be used as a source of biofuel, well ... not only might it produce higher yields than other crops..."
Sugarcane is ALREADY being used extensively for the production of biofuel in both Australia and Brazil. So there's no COULD about it; it already is used as a source of biofuel.
Slowburn
Biofuel because food is overrated.
apprenticeearthwiz
This is certainly not the way of the future. It's redundant before it's even fully developed because burning stuff for energy is yesterdays technology.
physics314
Biofuel, n., a buzzword for burning wood, shrubs, grass, and animal feces.
The average annual solar efficiency of corn-ethanol production is less than 0.1%. The best solar-to-biofuel efficiency one can practically get is 2-3%. This does not include the energy cost of reversing environmental damage (soil depletion and ocean dead zones), caused by intensive agriculture. The idea that any meaningful fraction of the world's energy demand can be met via these processes is a pure pipe dream, as just the required land area can be more than is physically available, not to mention economically affordable.