Fruit fuel

[ArgonPlasma2000]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6224846.stm

And it has higher energy density AND OCTANE than ethanol. Really sweet stuff here. The main drawback cited in the article is cost of refineries (which is 10 times ethanol refineries :eek: ). I'd love to see the net energy transfer in the process.

The octane might even be high enough to run it in a diesel engine or a thermal-ignition gasoline engine.

[shitty wok]

Then the cost of fruit will skyrocket sadly. If we are to make food crops into fuel, we will have to make sacrifices.

[ArgonPlasma2000]

Then the cost of fruit will skyrocket sadly. If we are to make food crops into fuel, we will have to make sacrifices.

Its better to have fruit rise than corn. Not too many people, even considering the entire globe, have diets consisting of nothing but fruit.

But, yea, sacrifices will need to be made. Hell, sacrifices can be made NOW with ur gasoline infrastructure and we would be much better off. Only when people realize that you cant have cake and eat it will this work.

[RAOVQ]

fruit need a shitload of water. they are expensive to harvest and we already have issues with food distribution. there are also issues with spoilage, it would have to be distilled soon after harvesting, shipping it for two months isn't really doable.

not to mention seasons that would create only one lot of fuel per year.

it seems like a really bad idea. the mere specuation of corn produced alcohol is causing corn shortages in latin american countries, imagine what would happen when farmers in poor areas find they can get more money selling to BP.

[Soda_Can_Sniper]

No shit, food prices are skyrocketing, and we haven't even started making fuel out of it.

Corn costs $.50 an ear at the supermarket across the street. A head of iceberg is over a dollar. Meat prices bounce around as much as gas stations' prices do. This is standard grade market meat, not good butcher meat either.

Foodfuels, with the exception of using waste products, is not the way to go. In addition to creating energy, better storage mediums need to be developed.

People's consumption has to be culled for it to work. I'm almost tempted to say local governments should think about temporary blackouts, or even try alloted energy (like phones do minutes).

[Lacedwithdelight]

haven't they invented some chemical to make fruit stay fresh up till twelve months?
I remember something about it in the papers.

[gunjah]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6224846.stm

The octane might even be high enough to run it in a diesel engine or a thermal-ignition gasoline engine.

If thats the case then why not just use vegetable oil/bio-diesel? After all, it is much cheaper and simpler to make oil.

[Trousersnake]

ETHYLENE might be a knight in a shining holding tank

List of Plant Responses to Ethylene

* Stimulates leaf and flower senescence
* Stimulates senescence of mature xylem cells in preparation for plant use
* Inhibits shoot growth except in some habitually flooded plants like rice
* Induces leaf abscission
* Induces seed germination
* Induces root hair growth – increasing the efficiency of water and mineral absorption
* Induces the growth of adventitious roots during flooding
* Stimulates epinasty – leaf petiole grows out, leaf hangs down and curls into itself
* Stimulates fruit ripening
* Induces a climacteric rise in respiration in some fruit which causes a release of additional ethylene. This can be the one bad apple in a barrel spoiling the rest phenomenon.
* Affects neighboring individuals
* Disease/wounding resistance
* Triple response when applied to seedlings – stem elongation slows, the stem thickens, and curvature causes the stem to start growing horizontally. This strategy is thought to allow a seedling grow around an obstacle
* Inhibits stem growth outside of seedling stage
* Stimulates stem and cell broadening and lateral branch growth also outside of seedling stage
* Interference with auxin transport (with high auxin concentrations)
* Inhibits stomatal closing except in some water plants or habitually flooded ones such as some rice varieties, where the opposite occurs (conserving CO2 and O2)
* Where ethylene induces stomatal closing, it also induces stem elongation
* Induces flowering in pineapples

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene#Ethylene_biosynthesis_in_plants