西瓜汁制乙醇有望成新能源
Forget chip fat, sugar cane or rapeseed oil – the latest source of biofuel could be watermelons。[p=30, 2, left] [/p][p=30, 2, left] Scientists have discovered that the fruit is a great source of sugar that can be readily distilled into alcohol to power cars and farm machinery。[/p][p=30, 2, left] [/p][p=30, 2, left] And because retailers rejects 360,000 tons of "substandard" fruit annually in America alone they could be used as an economical way to make fuel。[/p][p=30, 2, left] [/p][p=30, 2, left] The waste from US growers could produce nearly two million gallons (nine million litres) of biofuel per year。[/p][p=30, 2, left] [/p][p=30, 2, left] In the study, researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture set out to determine the biofuel potential of juice from "cull" watermelons – those not sold due to cosmetic imperfections, and currently ploughed back into the field。[/p][p=30, 2, left] [/p][p=30, 2, left] About a fifth of each annual watermelon crop is left in the field because of surface blemishes or because they are misshapen。[/p][p=30, 2, left] [/p][p=30, 2, left] Dr Wayne Fish, who led the team, found that 50 per cent of the fruit was fermentable into ethanol which could provide valuable fuel。[/p][p=30, 2, left] [/p][p=30, 2, left] "We've shown that the juice of these melons is a source of readily fermentable sugars, representing a heretofore untapped feedstock for ethanol biofuel production," he said。[/p][p=30, 2, left] [/p][p=30, 2, left] The study, published in the journal Biotechnology for Biofuels, discovered that watermelons could produce around 20 gallons of fuel per acre from fruit that otherwise would go to waste。[/p][p=30, 2, left] [/p][p=30, 2, left] Production of biofuels has been targeted by western governments as a way to bolster renewable energy targets。[/p][p=30, 2, left] [/p][p=30, 2, left] The European Union has a target for 2010 that 5.75 per cent of transport fuels should come from biological sources, but the target is unlikely to be met。[/p][p=30, 2, left] [/p][p=30, 2, left] The British government's Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation requires five per cent of the fuel sold at the pump by 2010 to be biofuel。[/p][p=30, 2, left] [/p][color=#800080]
[/color] As i know ,watermelon contains so much water and a little sugar . so maybe it's one kinds of waste to produce fuel.
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