Currently reading: New fuel 'made of grass cuttings'
Plans to use grass cuttings to make biofuel revealed

Grass cuttings could be used as an alternative source of fuel in future.

The Carbon Trust is working with York University to investigate the potential of using grass cuttings, believing it will be possible to use microwave technology to transform garden waste into biofuel using a process called pyrolysis.

The end result is a biofuel that can be blended with fossil fuels or used as a standalone fuel source.

This new pyrolysis biofuel could be up to 95 per cent less polluting than fossil fuels, say researchers.

Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust, said: "Genuinely sustainable biofuel will be critical to help reduce the UK’s transport emissions."

The trust has also announced a consortium of British businesses lead by Axion Energy, which hope to create its first biofuel from grass cuttings by 2014.

John O'Brien

Twitter - follow autocar.co.uk

Join the debate

Comments
10
Add a comment…
N0077666 19 March 2010

Re: New fuel 'made of grass cuttings'

MrTrilby wrote:
You think safely transporting and storing large quantities of liquid hydrogen is not that big a deal? Hydrogen's in a whole different league when it comes to volatility and explosion/fire risk. And that's assuming that you can produce the stuff in volume economically in the first place.

No its not a big deal. You saying petrol isn't volatile and explosive? It is true that if you mix pure hydrogen with enough oxygen it will spontaneously explode, however that is true of petrol as well. Yes extra care is needed because it will have to be stored under very high pressure to keep it liquid, but far more dangerous chemicals and products are transported every day under more demanding conditions. Even oil is more of a problem to transport... a ship runs aground and you have a major environmental disaster which has long lasting and far reaching effects. A hydrogen ship runs aground and you will have a very big bang in the near vicinity and thats it. Yes it will be a major incident but far less damaging in the long run than an oil spill.

I have read up on Joe Romm as suggested. Yes I see your points that there is a long way to go before hydrogen is feasible. However that is what I am saying about concentrating on hydrogen, which is a long term solution, rather than short term ones. There may be other long term solutions, but none as of yet seem suitable to our lifestyle as we know it. One thing that cannot be argued is that oil is a finite product. It will run out, fact. Yes there may be more undiscovered oil fields, but it is getting harder, both physically and politically to get oil. Instead of focusing on solutions which are just temporary or unsuitable in the long run, the worlds scientists should focus on the use of hydrogen (or another long term solution).

jackjflash 18 March 2010

Re: New fuel 'made of grass cuttings'

N0077666 wrote:
What is the point of wasting all this time, effort and money on "stop gap" solutions? Biofuels will never be feasible; the amount of land needed to produce enough organic matter is too great, and there is already serious issues on there being enough land to feed the worlds rapidly growing population.

This seems like a feasible solution and would use something other than a food source to make fuel…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ih-DLurcZA[/youtube]

RobotBoogie 18 March 2010

Re: New fuel 'made of grass cuttings'

Does that mean that a lawnmower could potentially go forever?