Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have come up with a cheaper way to make ethanol from rice straw and other waste materials … cheaper by 30%.

A professor at the university’s Materials and Structures Laboratory has developed a catalyst that will break down plant-based materials resulting in a more efficient production of sugar. This sugar product is then mixed with water and heated to 100C (boiling the water away?).

More confusion on my part -

“The catalyst consists of a carbon material with multiple molecules attached to its surface. These molecules dramatically speed up the decomposition of plant cellulose, making ethanol production much more efficient.”

The bottom line - the catalyst can be made more cheaply making production of ethanol from non-food crops more cost-effective or about equal to what it costs to produce the bioethanol from corn and other foods.

If ethanol can be produced from non-food products, there will no increased food costs and adverse affects to third world countries, too. No?

Go, Tokyo, Go!

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photo by vr2006

With 1.8 million cars counting for 75-percent of the air pollution, Madrid is one of Spain’s most polluted cities. Recently the City Hall announced that their official vehicles will “turn green” by 2011 using clean fuels like bio-diesel, ethanol, natural gas or even running on electricity. Madrid also joined the BEST (BioEthanol for Sustainable Transport) European project to promote the use of ethanol in cars and is going to make agreements with taxi companies to offer them road tax discounts if they will turn green, too.

Such decisions could make people realize that something has to be done if we want a cleaner air. We can start with our cars.

via AutoBlogGreen