Texan Mesquite Tree Eyed as Cheap Biofuel Resource

The mesquite tree that lends smoky flavor to an old-fashioned southern barbecue is largely viewed as an invasive pest. But not anymore. Researchers are looking for ways to use the mesquite tree as raw material for bioethanol - adding an incentive to remove the trees and create energy from "waste".

Unfortunately, mesquite trees are not easy to harvest, and it is up to Jim Ansley and his team at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station to develop ways to collect it as a harvested crop rather than on a tree-by-tree basis. Ansley and his team have already spent $70,000 creating a mesquite 'vacuum cleaner' to scoop up branches and twigs after the trees have been mowed down by a conventional bulldozer. Designing a single machine to combine both felling and collection would cost about half a million dollars, Ansley said.

Using cellulosic material from trees and grasses to generate ethanol fuel is cheaper and  more sustainable compared to using food crops such as corn, a practice deemed by many economists and ecologists as unsustainable. However, there is as yet no commercial method to transform material from woody plants such as mesquite into biofuel economically.

Read the complete article at http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070813/full/070813-1.html.