GreenShift is working on technology to feed carbon dioxide to algae and then harvest the algae as if they were corn stalks.
Adding the enzyme to corn stalks, the researchers say, could allow easier conversion of the woody waste parts of the corn plant into ethanol.
They pitch balls to total strangers and photograph themselves walking out of the corn stalks, just like the ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson did on the big screen.
Made from corn stalks, switchgrass and other plant waste, it has the advantage of not competing with the food supply and also boasts a superior energy balance than corn-based ethanol.
Because it doesn't stir up the soil, it lets the land keep its stored carbon and even adds some, because those corn stalks on the surface gradually become part of the soil.
The biomass power station would burn rubbish, animal manure, woodchips, seaweed, corn stalks and other wastes, to heat water to create steam to turn turbines to produce around 300 megawatts of electricity.
BBC: NEWS | UK | Wales | North West Wales | Power station 'deal to save jobs'
Speaking at the American Chemical Society meeting in New Orleans, Miriam Sticklen of Michigan State University described her work on engineering corn stalks to contain an enzyme normally found in the stomach of cattle.
Eventually, says Gruber, his fermenting process will be adapted to use corn stalks or wheat straw--known as stover and now sold as cheap animal feed or plowed back into soil--to further knock down the cost.
"We'll also fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn but from wood chips and stalks and switchgrass, " the president promised.
We will also fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn, but from wood chips and stalks or Swiss grass.
Some Iowa corn plants were only 4 to 5 feet tall with thin stalks and small ears.
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