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Nice, but...
By Motoman on 6/26/2013 5:55:46 PM , Rating: 2
This is great and all, but the important question ultimately is whether or not you can efficiently create the fuel without adversely affecting some other important system.

Which is to say, are we going to get a net gain in energy potential with the resulting fuel, or does it take as much energy to make it as you get out of it, like with many ethanol processes? And is it going to interact with the food supply, or anything else of, for instance, do we need to "feed" it with something?

RE: Nice, but...
By ShieTar on 6/27/2013 5:46:12 AM , Rating: 2
You need to feed it indeed. It is a post-processing of sugar (as is very briefly mentioned in the article above). It is no completely new idea, but rather a different process of producing a bio-fuel with a higher energy density.

Therefore, the overall impact on the global energy-equation gets higher as you loose some additional processing energy, but it increases the range of a car with a fixed tank-size.

RE: Nice, but...
By cyberguyz on 6/27/2013 10:46:04 AM , Rating: 2
Do you have a viable, renewable alternative?

We would love to hear it and the environmental impact studies you have done around it.

RE: Nice, but...
By Motoman on 6/27/2013 12:30:26 PM , Rating: 2
No...and my question is whether or not this one is either.

To date, it doesn't seem like *anything* is a viable alternative.

My guess is that long-term maybe some kind of biodiesel becomes viable. I don't really see any ethanol processes ever being valid.

RE: Nice, but...
By Ramstark on 6/27/2013 3:07:41 PM , Rating: 2
I think that the process should be aimed at engineering bacteria that use as "fuel" some type of inorganic trash or residue from another process, that way, we would have the "affected process" solved.

I wonder, which process has sugar as a subproduct or residue?

RE: Nice, but...
By Motoman on 6/27/2013 3:59:56 PM , Rating: 2
If any existing processes have sugar, or something close thereto, as an unwanted output, I can guarantee you that it's already spoken for.


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