Posted on 01/03/2007 9:08:51 AM PST by Red Badger
Imagine at some point in the future stopping at the pump for a fill up and choosing from alternative fuels as well as the usual suspects. Do you want unleaded, corn, soybean or diesel tree?
Diesel tree? Granted, that last choice may lie farther in the future than the others. Currently, little is known about the Brazilian native tree save that it produces a thin maple syrup-like resin called copaifera, an oil commonly found in cosmetics, that can be used as diesel fuel. (Copaifera is a legume loosely related to soybeans, a biofuel source already gaining statewide attention.) University of Tennessee agriculture professor Neal Stewart wants to revive studies spearheaded in 1980 by Nobel Prize winner Melvin Calvin and bring the tree’s genetic materials to the lab at UT-Knoxville. “We’re trying to see if this is too good to be true,” Stewart says.
If Stewart and his research team were successful in altering the tree resin’s DNA, it could result in a new species that thrives in cooler climates, making diesel trees a future option for farmers to add to crop rotations.
Even taking the first small step towards the future—obtaining lab samples—presented Stewart with some daunting hurdles. Trade laws prohibited the export of the tree’s resin out of Brazil, a situation common in agriculture research.
“Many countries are getting very protective about their germplasm [genetic material] and refuse to share it despite the fact that they have received germplasm from all over the world,” says Jules Janick, agriculture researcher at Purdue University.
Fortunately for the commonweal, Stewart found a solution in a commonwealth—four, full-grown “pet” copaifera trees growing on the University of Puerto Rico campus. Today, Stewart is nursing his own infant diesel trees. For now, the new plants resemble little more than a landscaper’s ground cover—the trees take years to mature. Meanwhile, resin samples from the 40-foot adult Puerto Rican trees are on their way to the UT lab.
Even before true genetic testing begins, investors beware. Stewart still considers the diesel tree a “pet” project with much to prove. Others in research circles have already dismissed the diesel tree’s viability.
“I do not believe the biodiesel tree would have any potential as an alternative fuel in the U.S.,” says Michael D. Benge, a retired senior agroforestry officer from the USDA Forest Service’s international programs division. Benge adds that hauling and processing oil-producing trees makes for “shaky economics.”
Stewart admits it’s not a sure thing, but adds with confidence that someone’s investment could break even or be returned ten-fold. He has raised almost $700,000 in grants this year alone to fund a variety of biofuel projects underway at UT.
Rest In Peace, old friend, your work is finished.......
If you want on or off the DIESEL "KnOcK" LIST just FReepmail me........
This is a fairly HIGH VOLUME ping list on some days......
KnOcK!.....
After all, they scraped some old cheest to get penicillin!
I thought it was bread........
Instead of sniffing gas, folks will be putting it on their pancakes.
Could be. It grows on lots of stuff...
So, if I eat moldy bread and green cheese, I'll never get sick?..........
Yeah, but you'll have green teeth! ;p
What do we know about the byproducts and waste produced when making these fuels?
Most of the "wastes" can be used for cattle and pig feed (soy,corn,cottenseed,etc) since the residuals are vegetable matter. There are other processes that convert "wastes" like raw sewage and plastic bottles from garbage dumps into diesel fuels. Practically anything with carbon can be converted into diesel fuel. Algaes can produce prodigious amounts of fuel using sunlight and CO2. Coal, using the Fischer-Tropsch process can be converted to diesel fuel, as was done many years ago by Nazi Germany and Apartheid South Africa most recently. This particular tree would be used like the Maple Syrup trees and would continue to produce year after year. Other plants, like Jatropha trees and Chinese Tallow (popcorn) Tree also are fuel sources. Most of the vegetable based diesel fuels are simply a matter of pressing the seeds to obtain oil, just like olive oil has been for thousands of years. The wastes and by-products are hardly a factor in considering the environmental impact they have as there are very few unused product leftovers.......
Already got green teeth!.........what few are left!.......
If you're a redhead, you must've looked very festive for Christmas!!!
With a Santa hat on I look like the Grinch!........
Cute!
Petro-Diesel does smell badly, but Veggie-Diesel does not........
Would you believe..... a Rocky Top Bump.
Blue cheese....
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
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