Sweet potatoes in your gas tank

Charleston.net
By Robert Behre (Contact)
The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Lowcountry lawmakers have given initial encouragement to a budding venture that aims to grow massive sweet potatoes specially bred for conversion into ethanol.

Ultimately, horticulturist Janice Ryan-Bohac of North Charleston and businessman Alan Overcash of Gainesville, Ga., would like to see more than 1 million South Carolina acres planted with these special potatoes and other feedstock.

That would provide enough raw material for 23 bio-refineries, which they say could replace 85 percent of all gasoline consumed here.

Ryan-Bohac currently is seeking a patent on what is dubbed "the energy sweet potato," a tuber that can grow up to 40 pounds and provide up to six times as much ethanol as corn or three times as much as sugar cane per acre.

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