Research by Energy Biosciences Institute Suggests Exclusive Biofuel Plants for Fuel Production

Researchers from all over the world agree on the potential of cellulosic biofuel but they are opposed to the use of food and feed crops for biofuel production. They are also of the opinion that a typical technology cannot be applied for all types of plants.

A recent viewpoint titled ‘Feedstocks for Lignocellulosic Biofuels’ appeared in the August 13th edition of the Journal Science and written by the researchers of the Energy Biosciences Institute reflected a point on the use of biofuels. The research was funded by BP and executed in cooperation between the University of Illinois, UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The researchers’ advocate a variety of plant species that are compliant with the weather and soil settings of a specific region of the world and can be used for building up an agro ecosystem exclusively for fuel production that are analogous with the current ecological goals. The suggested plant and crops include miscajthus a perennial grass grown in the rainy places in U.S. Midwest, south and east, sugarcane grown in Brazil and other hot places, Agave grown in semi dry places such as U.S. South west and Mexico and woody biomass grown in a variety of places. The research also stresses the point of utilizing non-edible parts of the plants for the production of biofuel.

The article clearly points out that biofuel crops need not be grown on lands presently utilized for the cultivation of food crops or animal feedstock. It suggests a number of bio energy crops that conserve the use of water. According to the research agave can be grown on nearly 18% of the earth’s surface that is semiarid and crops such as Miscanthus and switchgrass basically remain light weight with effectiveness in utilizing less of nitrogen and water from the soil.