2005 Year in Review

Making Fuel from Leftovers

Source: Hans Blaschek (217) 333-8224; blaschek@uiuc.edu; Producer: Debra Levey Larson; phone: 217/244-2880; email: dlarson@uiuc.edu

With oil prices going up and oil supplies going down, more and more industries and scientists are looking at ways to make fuel out of things like corn waste.

Hans Blaschek, a microbiologist at the University of Illinois says that renewables make sense because you start with something that costs zero, or even minus if people are willing to pay to get rid of it, and convert it into a valuable product. He says that it’s just the process, the technology that’s holding us up.

Blaschek has been demonstrating his process to produce butanol from corn processing waste at the Archer Daniels Midland Company pilot plant in Decatur. Alternative fuels like ethanol and butanol can be derived from biomass instead of petroleum and they give off a cleaner car exhaust that can help reduce air pollution.

Blaschek says that it’s just a matter of time before biofuels and bio-based products become economically competitive. And with an estimated 20 million tons of cellulose in the Midwest, fuel and other products made from corn waste could become a real source of income for farmers.

More information on this can be found at: Taking the Next Step and Tapping the Power of Plants.

by  Editor, theCity1.com
June 20, 2005