I don't remember the exact article, I think it was published many years ago in Science News. Some guy in Brazil discovered a "diesel fuel" tree.
Apparently, there's some tropical tree whose sap is so oily, you can tap it and pour it directly into your truck tank. -----Original Message----- From: Jones Beene [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 3:23 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Vo]: Re: Biodiesel Grows on Trees Fred, Apparently this is a tall shrub or small tree - with lots of nuts used for fuel and medicine in Africa and Asia. Said to cure both cancer and hemmoroids <g> so if you plant an acre of it - and it doesn't work out for powering your car - hey, you set up a small patent-medicine business <g> or save a bundle on "Preparation H" <g> Curiously - the common name is "Physic nut" which might make it perfect for Vortex Getting a little more serious - "According to Gaydou et al (1982), seed yields approach 6-8 MT (metric tonnes)/ha with ca 37% oil. They calculate that such yields could produce the equivalent of 2,100-2,800 liters fuel oil/ha . OK that would be about 200 gallons per acre - mas o menos - which is about what would be needed per year per automobile for the average in the USA (15,000 miles/yr) - which is calculated based on proven results of the hybrid-diesel with HydroBooster (onboard hydrogen generator). Adding even small amounts of hydrogen to diesel combustion seems to be especially synergetic. Unfortunately - this shrub is probably not frost-tolerant - now. If some dedicated biochemist got to work on bioenegineering it however - how knows? A brief googling for 'Frost tolerance' indicates that the plant genes for this have been identified - so perhaps bioengineering it is not too far removed from practicality? Jones
