In relation to my last question...?

Question

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsmONtAYvXT7_aDbZaknd8bsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080313122924AAZpx4R

Couldn't we just make ethanol or biofuel or whatever from leftover plant parts? I was thinking tobacco, for example - it's a plant so it's celulose... Or any other plant that's production leaves waste products behind?

Answer 1

In theory yes.

In practice it is not yet possible.

To produce ethanol you have to convert something to alcohol.

While you can break down the long cellulose molecules and use those it is not easy.  It is much easier to use either sugars or starches which are similar composition, but much smaller molecules and so easier to break down and convert.

This is part of the problem with ethanol production because it uses only part of the plants and directly competes for food crops.

People are working on getting an industrial scale process to break down cellulose to sugars and then to alcohol.  Hopefully they will be there soon.   As well as plant waste - corn stalks, potato and carrot tops, etc  you can then pick a fast growing leafy plant that has a higher cellulose yield per acre rather than picking something that has the best sugar/starch yield per acre.   Some prairie grasses look good and will require a lot less cultivation than corn.    Historically corn has actually required almost a gallon of gas to make a gallon of ethanol, making it very inefficient.

Answer 2

Yes, if we were organized.  But to be that organized is a long way off.  That would be some high tech recycling.