Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Ethanol=Alcohol

Taking a page from the Russian's book, scientists are now able to turn ethanol fuel into food-grade (that is, drinkable) alcohol. It comes it at a whopping 190-proof too. According to the designer of the process it "tastes just like vodka". Isn't that special?

Anyway, as he points out, it's to give investors another reason to take a chance on ethanol plants now and to give those plants a backup source of revenue when ethanol becomes the dominant fuel (because then there'll be hundreds or thousands of these plants all doing the same thing).

[...]While the demand for fuel ethanol could wane if the automotive industry embraces other technology, "the demand for liquor and mouthwashes and cough syrups will always be there," said Hans van Leeuwen, a civil, construction and environmental engineering professor who is working with Koziel on the project.


And of course, is there ever not a market for something that makes people drunk?

2 comments:

Alexander Wolfe said...

That product should probably be pre-emptively banned in Russia.

Nat-Wu said...

That's probably a good idea.