Henry Daniell, a scientist from the University of Central Florida has developed a method of using household waste materials to produce ethanol.
Sources claim his approach could be greener and less expensive than current methods used to fuel vehicles which are powered by the substance.

The Engineer reports Daniell’s method has been used on products such as orange peel and newspaper, but can also be applied to products such as sugarcane, straw and switchgrass.

The method uses plant-derived enzymes to break down materials into sugar which can then be fermented into ethanol. Currently corn starch is used in the fermentation process and conversion into ethanol but this method is believed to produce more greenhouse gas emissions than petrol.

200 million gallons of ethanol could be produced from the discarded orange peels of Florida state alone, said Daniell.

Related posts:

1. British Airways unveil green fuel plan
2. Watermelon juice can provide biofuel says researchers

British Airways have revealed a plan to create Europe’s first sustainable jet fuel plant which will convert household waste into environmentally-friendly aviation fuel.

In a partnership with US bioenergy group solena, British Airways will set up the new plant in east London claims eTravel and hope to be able to power part of its fleet by 2014 with the greener, low-carbon fuel.

The plant will convert roughly 500,000 tonnes of waste materials from households into some 16 million gallons of green jet fuel via a process that offers lifecycle greenhouse gas savings of up to 95 per cent compared to fossil-fuel derived jet kerosene.

The environmental savings would see the equivalent of 48,000 cars being removed from the roads each year.

In addition to the fuel conversion, using household waste would also lessen the impact on the volume of waste sent to landfill sites, as well as cutting down on the production of methane. The project will also see 20MW of electricity generated each year.

Willie Walsh, British Airways’ chief executive, said: “This unique partnership with Solena will pave the way for realising our ambitious goal of reducing net carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2050. We believe it will lead to the production of a real sustainable alternative to jet kerosene. We are absolutely determined to reduce our impact on climate change and are proud to lead the way on aviation’s environmental initiatives.”

Related posts:

1. Fuel from orange peel?