Cheaper Fuel From Self-Destructing Trees 112
sciencehabit (1205606) writes "Wood is great for building and heating homes, but it's the bane of biofuels. When converting plants to fuels, engineers must remove a key component of wood, known as lignin, to get to the sugary cellulose that's fermented into alcohols and other energy-rich compounds. That's costly because it normally requires high temperatures and caustic chemicals. Now, researchers in the United States and Canada have modified the lignin in poplar trees to self-destruct under mild processing conditions—a trick that could slash the cost of turning plant biomass into biofuels."
Wood fuel (Score:5, Funny)
Got wood, eh?
Your mission Jim, should you choose to accept it. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Just when the American trees are under attack . (Score:5, Funny)
2nd Amendment Rights
Well armed forest, take that treehuggers.
Re:Wood IS fuel (Score:4, Funny)
Apply heat and O2 to complete fire triangle.
Well, you’re obviously being totally naive of course. When you’ve been in marketing as long as I have, you'll know that before any new product can be developed it has to be properly researched. We’ve got to find out what people want from fire, how they relate to it, what sort of image it has for them.
Do people want fire that can be fitted nasally?
If you're so clever, you tell us what color fire should be.
Re:Use trees as carbon sinks (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Tough part (Score:5, Funny)
The toughest part is to make sure they don't scream as they destruct; the licensing fees would be too expensive.
Not to worry, there will probably be no one there to hear it, so it won't make any noise.