Saving the rainforest with biofuels, from Arenga sugar palm.

June 29, 2011 |

In Indonesia, biologist Willie Smits has received a $100,000 grant from National Geographic to develop a prototype model of a rainforest-based system for producing biofuels from Arenga sugar palm. The trees only grow in mixed, intact rainforests, are drought-resistant and fire-resistant, and must be “bled” twice a day like a maple tree which encourages employment.

Trees planted in undisturbed forests could produce 7.7 tons of ethanol per acre annually, about four times as much as from sugarcane.

Category: Research

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