Dan Kulpinski

One day the gasoline in your car might come from plants — and no, I’m not talking ethanol. I’m talking actual gasoline made from a plant.

This week, scientists from the University of Massachusetts said they have, for the first time, used plant cellulose to create a liquid that contains some of the compounds found in gasoline. This is a big breakthrough for “green gasoline.” The liquid contains 1/4 of the compounds found in traditional gasoline; it could be used as-is for a high-octane fuel, or further treated to get it to match traditional, fossil-fuel gasoline.

The press release said it might be 5-10 years before we see “green gas” at the pump. Chemical engineer George Huber (pictured), who led the U-Mass team, wrote to me via e-mail that they need to work on scaling up the technology and improving yields. “The faster we can do this the faster we can commercialize this process,” he wrote.

What are the benefits of “green gasoline”? First, it is carbon neutral, because although when burned it gives off the same carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as traditional gasoline does, the plants soak up the CO2 when they grow. Possible source plants include switchgrass and poplar trees; forest and agricultural residues such as wood chips and corn stalks could also work. The researchers also claim that they could use heat from the green gasoline production process to produce electricity and bring the process to zero net carbon footprint.

Also, the “green gas” would provide the same miles per gallon as regular gasoline, unlike ethanol which provides 30 percent less energy per gallon.

The liquid “green gas” would work with existing gasoline transportation and retail infrastructure — the tanker trucks and gas pumps.

Plus, the science is elegant. The process the team used to create the green gasoline took two minutes, used a moderate amount of heat and required only one step.

The key questions regarding this new fuel are: How much plant matter do we need to grow to create a significant amount of “green gas”? How quickly can those plants — the switchgrass and poplar trees — soak up the CO2 emissions from our cars? Will the plants put a dent in our food crops and affect food prices, like the demand for corn ethanol is doing? Or will they be planted on non-cropland?

I think “green gasoline” is a step in the right direction, because emission-wise it is sustainable. I see it as a key transition fuel we can use as we develop zero-emission and alternative-fuel vehicles. Our ultimate goal, however, has to be to reduce emissions from vehicles and redesign vehicles to make them more efficient — not just reengineer gasoline. What do you think?

P.S.: Learn more about the prospect for green gasonline, green diesel and green jet fuel at this Web site, http://www.ecs.umass.edu/biofuels/index.htm