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Turning Fruit into Fuel
United States
Friday 12 December 2008
Will the Obama government promote the conversion of fruit in bioethanol ?
Half of all the fruit grown in Georgia is never eaten by people or animals. It rots in the fields. A University of Georgia researcher says that spoiled fruit could fuel cars, writes April Sorrow from the University of Georgia.
Elliot Altman points to jars of bioethanol and DDG in his lab on the UGA Athens campus. Altman is researching cost-effective ways to convert Georgia's leftover fruit into ethanol.
That wasted fruit can be converted into bioethanol through a fermentation process, said Elliot Altman, program coordinator for the UGA Center for Molecular Bioengineering.
"All fruits are 10 per cent sugar, or potentially five per cent ethanol," said Altman, an engineer with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
"It's a real opportunity."
The fermentation process could create a high-protein byproduct, which can be used in animal feed, called dried distillers grain. The largest opportunity in Georgia lies in watermelons and peaches. Last year, the state harvested one billion pounds of watermelon and more than 61 million pounds of peaches. The same amount rotted in the fields.
The fruit is left behind because it doesn't make the grade for commercial sale. Consumers don't want fruit that doesn't look perfect, even though it is fine to eat in most cases. Some of the discarded fruit is used in preserves and juice, but 50 per cent never leaves the field.
Ethanol conversion is not possible on a small scale like biodiesel operations. Getting enough commodity groups excited about converting the waste to fuel is one battle Altman hopes legislation may help with.
"One farmer isn't big enough to set up operation," he said.
"If packers knew in advance the fruit would be used for something, they could gather it in a separate place for transport to the ethanol plant."
Government regulations mandate the blending of five per cent ethanol into gasoline by 2009 and 10 per cent by 2011. The Renewable Fuel Standard programme will increase the volume of renewable fuel required to be blended into gasoline from 9 billion gallons in 2008 to 36 billion gallons by 2022.
"All fruits are 10 per cent sugar, or potentially five per cent ethanol," said Altman, an engineer with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
"It's a real opportunity."
The fermentation process could create a high-protein byproduct, which can be used in animal feed, called dried distillers grain. The largest opportunity in Georgia lies in watermelons and peaches. Last year, the state harvested one billion pounds of watermelon and more than 61 million pounds of peaches. The same amount rotted in the fields.
The fruit is left behind because it doesn't make the grade for commercial sale. Consumers don't want fruit that doesn't look perfect, even though it is fine to eat in most cases. Some of the discarded fruit is used in preserves and juice, but 50 per cent never leaves the field.
Ethanol conversion is not possible on a small scale like biodiesel operations. Getting enough commodity groups excited about converting the waste to fuel is one battle Altman hopes legislation may help with.
"One farmer isn't big enough to set up operation," he said.
"If packers knew in advance the fruit would be used for something, they could gather it in a separate place for transport to the ethanol plant."
Government regulations mandate the blending of five per cent ethanol into gasoline by 2009 and 10 per cent by 2011. The Renewable Fuel Standard programme will increase the volume of renewable fuel required to be blended into gasoline from 9 billion gallons in 2008 to 36 billion gallons by 2022.
