|
Not Ranked
:
+0 / -0
0 score
Re: What plants might be grown, just for bio-fuel?
I'm sure that anything that grows can be used as a bio-fuel since it contains carbon that can be oxidized; the question is what plants are most efficient at providing the fuel we want - either oil for bio-diesel or cellulose for ethanol? In terms of pure efficiency, I suspect that an algae will be the best source of feedstock; unfortunately, there are some issues that need to be addressed - scaling of bioreactors, algae strains and market development. (Google algaculture [I'm not allowed to paste links, yet])
Then, there are some crops that are in the research or ramp-up phase of marketing - one I know of is hazelnut (see Badgersett dot com)
From my perspective, a crop that is planted once is best for the environment. Also, such crops can be bred for production - albeit at a slower pace than annuals due to reproductive rates. However, due to the fact that algae has a limited structure and certain strains already produce up to 50% oil, I don't think that any terrestrial plant will ever come close to the output that algae can achieve - so there will be places where algae is the better choice.
|
