Panda Poop, Turkey Offal, Alligator Guts, Seaweed: What Can't be Turned into Biofuels?

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The list of alternative feedstocks for biofuels production continues to grow. At the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society held this week in Denver, Colorado, scientists unveiled a study suggesting that waste material from giant pandas possesses bacteria that can break down plant material from switchgrass, wood chips and corn stalks that can be turned into biofuels.

It has been known for years that cattle and termite enzymes can break down cellulosic material in starchy plants to produce feedstock for biofuel production. The study shows that the panda's diet of bamboo requires a bacterium in the pandas' intestines that may be even more efficient for biofuel production.

Dr. Ashli Brown, based at the University of Mississippi, is currently trying to identify every intestinal bacterium in the giant panda in order to isolate the most powerful digestive enzymes for biofuel production and other purposes. Brown noted that scientists could use well-established genetic engineering technology to put the genes that produce these enzymes into yeasts. The yeasts then would produce the enzymes and could be grown on a commercial scale to provide large amounts of enzymes for the biofuel industry.

Renewable Environmental Solutions LLC (Carthage, Missouri) built a biodiesel production plant at the Butterball Turkey plant in Carthage that processed turkey offal into biodiesel. Alligator innards have shown promise as an alternative feedstock. (See August 23, 2011, article - Don't Throw Out Your Alligator Fat, Put it in Your Gas Tank. Seaweed shows promising possibilities for making biodiesel from algae.

Barring nuclear waste, anything can be pressurized and mixed into biofuel feedstocks. 100 pounds of tires, for instance, yields 44 pounds of oil; a similar quantity of medical waste would result in 65 pounds of oil.

The biofuel industry continues to tap into biofuel feedstocks from "not-from-food" sources. Continued advances in biofuel production from second- and third-generation feedstocks is expected to continue to grow in the hopes of continued displacement of foreign oil in American gas tanks.

Industrial Info's databases provide a comprehensive outline of all current development activities in the emerging alternative fuels market. Our North American Biodiesel Database covers 143 operational plants and 97 plants under development. Our North American Ethanol Database covers 216 plants currently in operation and 115 plants in various phases of development. Our North American Wood Fuel Pellet Database includes 68 operational plants producing greater than 25,000 tons annually, and 39 projects in progress.

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