Finally a use for Kudzu: Convert it to Biofuel
By Susan Wilson
Having grown up in the South, I am intimately acquainted with kudzu and its dangers. Stand in one place too long and disappear. Ok, so that’s an exaggeration but not by much. Now kudzu is being researched as a possible substitute for corn in biofuel.
Kudzu was originally imported as a way to combat erosion in the south. What everyone failed to consider was that a plant that grows at the rate of 6.5 feet per day and has roots six feet deep, moves faster than most southerners. This plant has covered up and killed more trees, indigenous plants and slow moving animals than any other single entity.
Now researchers are looking into the possibility of using kudzu in place of corn for ethanol production. In looking at the plant, researchers at the University of Toronto and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have found that the greatest concentration of carbohydrates is in the root.
Carbohydrates are where biofuel gets its energy content. By harvesting kudzu roots, 270 gallons of ethanol could be made from an acre of kudzu. Corn, the current plant used in most ethanol, is highly inefficient in comparison.
Unfortunately, corn which is a major food crop, was seen as the answer to all of our fuel problems. Government subsidies and tax breaks have only added to the continued use of this inefficient plant for ethanol instead of food. Since some form of corn is in just about everything we eat or drink, shortages of corn for food has far reaching repercussions.
Since Kudzu roots are sometimes 6 feet deep, harvesting it is difficult. Not to mention the difficulty of getting through the above ground mass of vegetation to begin digging. It was suggested that even if the leaves and vines are not the optimum source for biofuel they might be perfect for turning into biogas.
When methods of making biofuel from cellulose become perfected, cheaper and more readily available, the leaves and stems of kudzu would be perfect for this process. The problem then becomes, how do you harvest all that tangled vine? There doesn’t seem to be a good cheap way of gathering all of that plant mass. I’m sure some motivated individual will find a way to harvest this efficiently and easily.
This is one plant that people would be glad to see harvested and turned into something…anything. Riding down the expressways you can see kudzu taking over whole landscapes including abandoned houses, electrical wires and whole forests of trees.
As a southerner, let me just say, there must be a way of cheaply converting this stuff to energy. Heck, I’m sure that the government could save a fortune in subsidies if kudzu were used. No one has to actually plant it. You just have to move fast enough to avoid being covered by it. It’s free and easy to find.
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