Agricultural plant waste could be turned into sustainable biofuel a new study from the University of East Anglia has found.
The study investigated over 70 different strains of yeast and has found five different strains of yeast can turn straw, cereal stalks and even corncobs into bioethanol, an alcohol based biofuel.
Bioethanol can be mixed with petrol without having to modify engines and cars have been running purely on bioethanol in Brazil since the late 1970’s.
The discovery of these strains of yeast is particularly exciting as the current method of converting straw into bioethanol is complicated and costly. These strains simplify the process and has the potential of producing 400 billion litres of biofuel each year as well as dramatically reduce the amount of agricultural waste which, left to its own devices, can emit methane and other noxious gases into our atmosphere.
