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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Sugar Rush"
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READER SCRIPT
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HEY, SWEET RIDE... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. WHENEVER YOU HEAR ABOUT CONVERTING SUGAR TO GASOLINE, YOU MAY STILL GET THE IMAGE OF DUMPING TINY PACKETS INTO THE TANK OF A CAR. BIO-FUELS HAVE COME A LONG WAY--ESPECIALLY IN THE LAST FEW YEARS. VIRENT ENERGY SYSTEMS AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN GOT THERE ON DIFFERENT PATHS--BUT RECENTLY ANNOUNCED, JOINTLY, THAT THEY'VE DEVELOPED A PRACTICAL PROCESS FOR CONVERTING SUGAR INTO GASOLINE AND OTHER USEFUL COMPOUNDS. THIS RECIPE STARTS WITH PLANT-BASED SUGARS AND CARBOHYDRATES FROM GRASS, AND OTHER NON-FOOD PLANTS OR AGRICULTURAL WASTE. THE KEY TO THE CONCOCTION IS WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: CATALYSTS ARE INTRODUCED, TO HELP FORM NEW COMPOUNDS; THOSE NEW COMPOUNDS ARE THEN RE-PROCESSED, THROUGH EXPOSURE TO OTHER CATALYSTS--AND YOU END UP WITH PRETTY MUCH THE COMPONENTS TO MAKE A BATCH OF FUEL FOR AN 18-WHEELER, A PRIVATE JET, OR MAYBE JUST A JETTA. GRANTED, IT'S NOT QUITE THAT SIMPLE; THE ACTUAL, NOT-SO-SIMPLE PROCESS IS "AQUEOUS PHASE REFORMING". THOUGH FURTHER DEVELOPMENT IS NEEDED, IT WORKS WITH EXISTING REFINERY TECHNIQUES, THE FUEL CAN BE MADE FROM WASTE SUGARS, AND IT BEATS MOST OTHER BIO-FUELS IN ENERGY YIELD--ALTHOUGH THERE ISN'T YET A DIET VERSION. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
