Fructose biofuel spells sweeter news for shift out of oil - AFP

[Eugene]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Fructose biofuel spells sweeter news for shift out of oil

1 hour, 3 minutes ago

PARIS (AFP) - Chemists in the United States say they have
broken new ground in biofuels, transforming plant sugar into
a liquid fuel that packs 40-percent more energy than ethanol
and appears to have fewer of its drawbacks.

Ethanol (ethyl alcohol) is currently the only car fuel made in
large quantities from biomass, under fast-expanding initiatives
to wean industrialised economies from dirty, costly oil.

-snip-

Biofuel engineers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison
believe they have found the answer in a process that results
in 2,5-demethylfuran, or DMF, which volume for volume
delivers 40 percent more energy than ethanol.

In addition, it is not soluble in water and is stable in storage.

-snip-

More research is needed before the technology can be
commercialised, according to lead researcher James Dumesic,
a professor of chemical and biological engineering, who has
previously won plaudits for work on HMF.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070620/sc_afp/energyenvironment_070620181813

[Ian David]

1. If it's not soluble in water, won't that also make it biopersistent? n/t

[Demeter]

2. If It's Flammable, That Should Be the Way To Remove It From Environment

[kestrel91316]

3. Oh, good - let's load up our gas tanks with FRUIT sugar..........

heck, we weren't using fruit or honey for anything else anyway, RIGHT?

[Eugene]

4. Fructose is an intermediate step and is created by enzymes.

The article briefly describes the process, which converts
carbohydrates in biomas to fructose, to HMF, and then
to DMF fuel.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. The same compound can be made from glucose (corn sugar, cellulose hydrolyzate)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=228&topic_id=31186&mesg_id=31186

[eppur_se_muova]

5. I assume that's 2,5-Dimethylfuran (not demethyl).

This is an interesting alternative. Derivatives of furan, especially THF (tetrahydrofuran) are already produced on a large scale, and furfural (furancarboxaldehyde) has been produced from agricultural waste (oat hulls, corncobs) for decades. MethylTHF has already been used in some fuel blends.

The one drawback I see is that dimethylfuran can be made from HMF only by reduction, which requires the input of H2 or its equivalent. If you're going to add H2, then you have to ask what energy is going to be used to generate that H2. That's not an insurmountable problem, though.

(Oh, a quibble -- DMF is standard abbreviation for dimethylformamide, a completely different type of compound, commonly employed as a solvent. Perhaps that will become DMFA, as it already is in some languages.)

[madrchsod]

7. still below gasoline in efficiency

but a giant step in the right direction.

[Javaman]

8. But it's still made from corn. nt