USDA Studies Ethanol From Farm Waste

Domestic Fuel-Alternative Fuel News
Posted by Cindy Zimmerman

Leftovers from fields, orchards, and vineyards could be combined with other household garbage to make ethanol and other kinds of bioenergy.

USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists are investigating the possibilities at the agency’s Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif.

Agricultural wastes like rice straw, almond hulls, and the oversize outer leaves of iceberg lettuce - as well as municipal solid waste - would have to be pretreated before being used as a bioenergy resource. The pretreated agricultural waste could then be transferred to a biofermenter where yeasts and enzymes would be added to make ethanol.

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