Chemical breakthrough turns sawdust into biofuel


	Chemical breakthrough turns sawdust into biofuel

wildcat

7-20-2008 9:31 AM

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tags:

biofuels, lignin, liquid hydrocarbons

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/b4fdedb1-0a79-4f17-812d-9fde34df6e50/E3FFDA35-84D4-46B2-83CA-C77259C70C3E/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn14360-chemical-breakthrough-turns-sawdust-into-biofuel.html" href="http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn14360-chemical-breakthrough-turns-sawdust-into-biofuel.html" style="font-size: 11px;">technology.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn14360-chemical-breakthrough-turns-sawdust-into-biofuel.html"><P>A wider of range of plant material could be turned into biofuels thanks to a breakthrough that converts plant molecules called lignin into liquid hydrocarbons.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn14360-chemical-breakthrough-turns-sawdust-into-biofuel.html"><P>The reaction reliably and efficiently turns the lignin in waste products such as sawdust into the chemical precursors of ethanol and biodiesel.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn14360-chemical-breakthrough-turns-sawdust-into-biofuel.html"><P>In recent years, the twin threats of global warming and oil shortages have led to growth in the production of <A href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18224523.300-green-fuel-earns-its-stripes-in-24hour-endurance-test.html" linkindex="22" set="yes">biofuels for the transportation sector</A>.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn14360-chemical-breakthrough-turns-sawdust-into-biofuel.html"><P>But as the human digestive system will attest, breaking down complex plant molecules such as <A target="ns" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose" linkindex="23">cellulose</A> and <A target="ns" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lignin" linkindex="24">lignin</A> is a tricky business.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn14360-chemical-breakthrough-turns-sawdust-into-biofuel.html"><H5>Food crisis</H5></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn14360-chemical-breakthrough-turns-sawdust-into-biofuel.html"><P>The biofuels industry has relied instead on starchy food crops such as corn and sugar cane to provide the feedstock for their reactions. But that puts the industry into direct competition with hungry humans, and food prices have risen as a result.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn14360-chemical-breakthrough-turns-sawdust-into-biofuel.html"><H5>Balancing act</H5></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/E3FFDA35-84D4-46B2-83CA-C77259C70C3E/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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