What kind of fuel am I?
15 Jan 2000
Corn, paper, and wood chips could be the fuels of the future, according to Stephen Paul of Princeton University. A motor fuel incorporating these waste products produces 4-50 per cent fewer unburned hydrocarbons than petrol, and 20 per cent less carbon monoxide, he claimed at the American Chemical Society meeting.
Known as `P-series', the fuel blends the biomass materials with ethanol and natural gas liquids, and can be run in `flexible fuel'-type engines. The vegetable matter constitutes about 70 per cent of the fuel. `Anything that used to be a carbohydrate can be turned into this,' Paul claims.