Home Reports Power and Electrical Engineering Content

Agave fuels global excitement as a bioenergy crop

27.01.2011

Scientists found that in 14 independent studies, the yields of two Agave species greatly exceeded the yields of other biofuel feedstocks, such as corn, soybean, sorghum, and wheat. Additionally, even more productive Agave species that have not yet been evaluated exist.

According to bioenergy analyst, Sarah Davis, "We need bioenergy crops that have a low risk of unintended land use change. Biomass from Agave can be harvested as a co-product of tequila production without additional land demands.

...more about:
> agave > bioenergy > bioenergy crop > Change Biology > Global Change Biology > synthetic biology

Also, abandoned Agave plantations in Mexico and Africa that previously supported the natural fiber market could be reclaimed as bioenergy cropland.

More research on Agave species is warranted to determine the tolerance ranges of the highest yielding varieties that would be most viable for bioenergy production in semi-arid regions of the world."

Agave is not only an exciting new bioenergy crop, but its economically and environmentally sustainable production could prove to successfully stimulate economies in Africa, Australia, and Mexico, if political and legislative challenges are overcome.

The special issue of Global Change Biology Bioenergy in which this article appears focuses on the potential of agave as a bioenergy feedstock. Global Change Biology Bioenergy is a bimonthly journal that focuses on the biological sciences and the production of fuels directly from plants, algae, and waste.

Sarah C. Davis | Source: EurekAlert!
Further information: www.illinois.edu
www.wiley.com

More articles from Power and Electrical Engineering:

Drax cements position as the cleanest, most efficient power station in the UK as £100m turbine upgrade nears completion
14.05.2012 | Siemens AG

Research maps the city's heat
14.05.2012 | University of Sheffield

All articles from Power and Electrical Engineering >>>

The most recent press releases about innovation >>>

Top

Send this article

Overview of the latest five Focus news of the innovations-report:

In the focus: A supernova cocoon breakthrough

The first evidence in X-rays of a supernova shock wave breaking through a cocoon of gas around the star has been found.

This discovery may help explain why some supernova explosions are more powerful than others.

This supernova is called SN 2010jl and is found in a galaxy about 160 million light years from Earth.

SN 2010jl was first spotted by astronomers on November 3, 2010, and probably exploded about a month before that.

Observations with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have provided the first X-ray evidence of a supernova shock wave breaking through a cocoon of gas surrounding the star that exploded. This discovery may help astronomers understand why some supernovas are much more powerful than others.

On November 3, 2010, a supernova was ...

In the focus: Fuel for the black hole

An international research team led by Gerd Weigelt from the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie in Bonn reports on high-resolution studies of an active galactic nucleus.

The use of near-infrared interferometry allowed the team to resolve a ring-shaped dust distribution (generally called "dust torus") in the inner region of the nucleus of the active galaxy NGC 3783. This method is able to achieve an angular resolution equivalent to the resolution of a telescope with a diameter ...

In the focus: Big-mouthed babies drove the evolution of giant island snakes

Some populations of tiger snakes stranded for thousands of years on tiny islands surrounding Australia have evolved to be giants, growing to nearly twice the size of their mainland cousins. Now, new research in The American Naturalist suggests that the enormity of these elapids was driven by the need to have big-mouthed babies.

Mainland tiger snakes, which generally max out at 35 inches (89 cm) long, patrol swampy areas in search of frogs, their dietary staple. When sea levels rose around 10,000 years ago, some tiger snakes found themselves marooned on islands that would become dry and frog-free. With their favorite food gone, ...

In the focus: Black holes turn up the heat for the Universe

HITS astrophysicists discover a new heating source in cosmological structure formation

So far, astrophysicists thought that super-massive black holes can only influence their immediate surroundings. A collaboration of scientists at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS) and in Canada and the US now discovered that diffuse gas in the universe can absorb luminous gamma-ray emission from black holes, heating it ...

In the focus: German astronomers finish Europe’s largest solar telescope on Tenerife

After ten years of development, the new German solar telescope GREGOR will start operating at the Spanish Observatorio del Teide of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias on Tenerife. It is the largest solar telescope in Europe and number three worldwide.

It will provide the German and the international community of solar physicists with new and better instrumentation which will enable them to investigate our home star in unprecedented detail.

Studying the Sun is a key to understand the physical processes on and in the majority of stars. Moreover, there is ...

All Focus news of the innovations-report >>>

Home Reports Power and Electrical Engineering Content

Agave fuels global excitement as a bioenergy crop

next article

27.01.2011

Scientists found that in 14 independent studies, the yields of two Agave species greatly exceeded the yields of other biofuel feedstocks, such as corn, soybean, sorghum, and wheat. Additionally, even more productive Agave species that have not yet been evaluated exist.

next article

In the focus: A supernova cocoon breakthrough

In the focus: Fuel for the black hole

In the focus: Big-mouthed babies drove the evolution of giant island snakes

In the focus: Black holes turn up the heat for the Universe

In the focus: German astronomers finish Europe’s largest solar telescope on Tenerife

B2B Search

Latest News

VideoLinks

Event News