2. Kudzu
Down in Florida, kudzu is a pretty unpopular topic, as the “weed that Ate the South is pretty much anywhere in the Southeastern quadrant, but some Oak Ridge researchers think they may be able to convert all that misery into fuels. Back in 2010, the Global Venture Challenge at Oak Ridge National Laboratory gave a project to convert waste materials into renewable jet fuel, from COSI Catalysts, honorable mention last week in the “Advanced Materials for Sustainable Energy category. The technology, spun out from the University of South Florida, is based on a patent-pending catalytic process that transforms horse manure, demolition debris or kudzu vines into fuel, and the company founders said that they are seeking up to $2 million for a 10,000 gallon per year pilot plant. And, Inventure’s chemical engineers, based at the University of Alabama’s business incubator are exploring the use of kudzu as a feedstock for ethanol production. The vines, which are spreading across the South, can be turned into a sugary syrupy-like substance that will then be distilled into ethanol. The syrup can also be produced from algae, wood chips and other organic waste.
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