Well, OK, the usefulness of biomass as an energy source is still an open question, but when you say that most of the available energy in a plant such as corn is contained in the seed, Jed, I have to wonder. When you take the dry weight of a corn stock, the leaves, and the cob, I just can't imagine the the total available energy in all that cellulose is less than that in the kernels. There's just too much mass in the rest of the plant.
Having said that, conversion of cellulose into a useful fuel is substantially more difficult than converting the starches and the oil from the seeds. This probably explains why all the unharvested stalks and leaves are burnt on site. If you've ever flown over corn country at night when they are doing the burn-off, you can see a really eye-popping display of luminous orange reticulations covering the landscape. This is done as both a convenience in terms of disposing of the waste, and to return the minerals left in the plant back to the soil. It's seems an awful waste to burn all that stuff and not get any of the energy from it. But Fred, how does that sugar-water diesel engine work? Has anyone built one, or is it just an idea? M. _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web!
