Biomasstransit? Or is Honda Barking Up The Wrong Tree?

Glenn Swanson
by Glenn Swanson

While Toyota has declared itself fully committed to a hybrid-powered future, Honda's hedging its bets. Honda is developing hybrids, more efficient gas-powered engines, clean diesels and now, biomass. Working with non-profit partner Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE), Honda says they've developed a new bacterial strain that produces large volumes of ethanol. The microorganisms munch on widely-available waste products including wood, leaves and plant stalks to ferment sugar into alcohol. Quoted by Reuters, RITE's chief researcher at their molecular microbiology and genetics lab didn't beat around the bush. Hideaki Yukawa claims his team has cracked the biomass nut: "This achievement solves the last remaining fundamental hurdle to ethanol production from soft biomass." Next year, Honda plans to set up a test plant (so to speak).

Glenn Swanson
Glenn Swanson

Glenn is a baby-boomer, born in 1954. Along with his wife, he makes his home in Connecticut. Employed in the public sector as an Information Tedchnology Specialist, Glenn has long been a car fan. Past rides have included heavy iron such as a 1967 GTO, to a V8 T-Bird. In between those high-horsepower cars, he's owned a pair of BMW 320i's. Now, with a daily commute of 40 miles, his concession to MPG dictates the ownership of a 2006 Honda Civic coupe which, while fun to drive, is a modest car for a pistonhead. As an avid reader, Glenn enjoys TTAC, along with many other auto-realated sites, and the occasional good book. As an avid electronic junkie, Glenn holds an Advanced Class amateur ("ham") radio license, and is into many things electronic. From a satellite radio and portable GPS unit in the cars, to a modest home theater system and radio-intercom in his home, if it's run by the movement of electrons, he's interested. :-)

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  • Glenn Swanson Glenn Swanson on Jul 18, 2007

    John: Hopefully, we can spare the rain forests. 210delray: I generate a good deal of vegetative waste just by pruning trees and shrubs on my property. Exactly. I can imagine a device, initially the size of a small dumpster, sitting in back of my garage. In go grass clippings, and in the fall, oak-tree leaves, and out comes ethanol for my car. Take it a bit farther, and imagine an enthanol-powered lawnmower, snowblower, and heck, while we’re at it, run a line over to your formerly gas-powered grill sitting on the nearby deck. Add an occasional Bag O’ Bugs to recharge the ethanol generator and you’ve got a nice self-sustaining system. Of course, it’s possible I have too vivid an imagination…

  • LoserBoy LoserBoy on Jul 18, 2007
    I can imagine a device, initially the size of a small dumpster, sitting in back of my garage. In go grass clippings, and in the fall, oak-tree leaves, and out comes ethanol for my car. I don't know about that. I'll confess to ignorance about the specifics of the conversion process, but biology being what it is, this sounds a lot like a fancy compost heap, with all the fumes and odors that implies. Not to mention: there's no such thing as a 100% efficient conversion. There's going to be some kind of waste matter left over in your dumpster, and the ethanol has to be "separated" through some kind of process. (I'm not looking forward to dredging out that sludge.) I do like the "Bag o' Bugs" concept, though. Specifically, I can see it playing a central role in some future (and fairly gross) episode of CSI.
  • Glenn Swanson Glenn Swanson on Jul 18, 2007

    LoserBoy: I do like the “Bag o’ Bugs” concept, though. Specifically, I can see it playing a central role in some future (and fairly gross) episode of CSI. LOL. Initially, I was going to add a bit about how the Bag O' Bugs would certainly come with a Federally-mandated warning label: "WARNING: Keep away from children and pets." Wouldn't want Fluffy the cat to ingest the stuff. As for cleaning out the ethanol generator, it could not be much more gross than the task of cleaning out the rain gutters on my home--yuck!

  • Jthorner Jthorner on Jul 19, 2007

    One of the things I admire about Honda is that it is managed by engineers who like to solve problems and are committed to being "a Company that Society Wants to Exist". What other corporation takes seriously that mission? See: http://world.honda.com/environment/2006report/pdf/2006_report_02.pdf

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