Could biofuels be a bonanza?

MICHIGAN – Rising gas prices, technological breakthroughs and a push by President Bush are combining to make some experts think that in as little as six years, many Americans will be driving cars powered by fuels made of such things as switchgrass, wood chips and corn stalks.

The potential of ethanol biofuels has huge implications for Michigan, home of the Big Three automakers as well as rich farm land that is already the second-biggest income generator in the state.

“I’ve believed for a long time that this day would come,” says Bruce Dale, director of the Biomass Conversion Laboratory at Michigan State University. For a decade, the laboratory has researched how to cheaply produce ethanol fuel from fast-growing crops like switch grass or plant debris, just as is done with corn today.

Switchgrass, sawdust and corn stalks are just a few examples of abundant, renewable organic matterknown as cellulosic biomassthat scientists want to turn into fuel because corn requires large areas of land to grow and is used for human and animal food.

The Detroit News