Researchers looking to turn fruit into fuel

Early County News (Blakely, Georgia)
By April Sorrow University of Georgia

Half of all the fruit grown in Georgia is never eaten by people or animals. It rots in the fields. A University of Georgia researcher says that spoiled fruit could fuel cars.

That wasted fruit can be converted into bioethanol through a fermentation process, said Elliot Altman, program coordinator for the UGA Center for Molecular Bioengineering.

"All fruits are 10 percent sugar, or potentially 5 percent ethanol," said Altman, an engineer with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. "It's a real opportunity."

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