KUDZU!.............
LOL! You beat me to it. That was my first thought. We gotta find some use for that stuff.
Ethazyme/U of MD/ethanol ping.
KUDZU, yes, the roots are the source of a very good starch like arrowroot which is used in Japan. It makes nice jell type desserts. At Whole Foods Market, it was selling for almost $1 per oz. So the roots could certainly be used for ethanol production perhaps in the way that corn is used. And all that green stuff, great for cellulosic ethanol. Incidentally, the fibers in Kudzu vines can be used for cloth manufacture. In fact if I had a lot of land overrun by Kudzu I would check out the potential economic value. The refining processes for food and fiber are not that complex.