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Convert Kudzu To Biofuel
By Mr Ethanol | June 19, 2008
TECH.BLORGE.com:
Having grown up in the South, I am intimately acquainted with kudzu and its dangers. Stand in one place too long and disappear. Ok, so that’s an exaggeration but not by much. Now kudzu is being researched as a possible substitute for corn in biofuel.
Kudzu was originally imported as a way to combat erosion in the south. What everyone failed to consider was that a plant that grows at the rate of 6.5 feet per day and has roots 6 foot deep, moves faster than most Southerners. This plant has covered up and killed more trees, indigenous plants and slow moving animals than any other single entity.
Now researchers are looking into the possibility of using kudzu in place of corn for ethanol production. In looking at the plant, researchers at the University of Toronto and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have found that the greatest concentration of carbohydrates is in the root.
Carbohydrates are where biofuel gets its energy content. By harvesting kudzu roots, 270 gallons of ethanol could be made from an acre of kudzu. Corn, the current plant used in most ethanol, is highly inefficient in comparison.
Unfortunately, corn which is a major food crop, was seen as the answer to all of our fuel problems. Government subsidies and tax breaks have only added to the continued use of this inefficient plant for ethanol instead of food. Since some form of corn is in just about everything we eat or drink, shortages of corn for food has far reaching repercussions.
Since Kudzu roots are sometimes 6 feet deep, harvesting it is difficult.
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