Cellulose Ethanol: Ending the "Land Conflict" between Biofuels and Food

This year, global food prices have continued to rise. According to the World Bank report, the impact of biofuels is as high as 75% among various factors that lead to food price increases. How to solve the contradiction between the two, now American scientists finally came up with a solution.

This is the Vernon Newcome, a biofuels pilot plant located in Louisiana, USA. The main research and development project here is to find a non-edible organic raw material and convert it into fuel. In order to avoid a large number of invading agricultural arable land, planting plant raw materials such as sugarcane and corn to extract ethanol, and solving the land dispute between biofuels and foodstuffs. Matthew Mushart Pilot Plant Manager: This is the raw material for cellulosic biology. The raw material we use to make biofuels. It's a mulch. The raw material smells a bit like syrup but you look closely at the sugarcane where it's dried. Slag.

Researchers said that they are still using ethanol distillation distillation method, the cost is relatively high, and the annual output can only reach 5.3 million liters. R&D personnel are improving the system and hope that the output after 3 years will reach the commercial market. In addition, scientists pointed out that due to the immature technology of converting non-crop crops to biofuels, crops are still the main raw material for biofuel production. If we can develop newer technologies to convert the waste cellulose that is rich in nature and can't be consumed, including straw, branches, and forestry residues, into ethanol, we will find a viable path for the development of the world's biofuel industry. . At present, many countries and many large energy companies are competing to explore technologies for converting cellulose into ethanol. It is hoped that another five years or so, "Cellulose Ethanol" will be widely used in the market.