Breakthrough in Biodiesel Production by Japanese Scientists

Sustainablog reports that Japanese scientists have discovered a way to convert vegetable oil into biodiesel with a much less expensive (between 10 and 50 times cheaper) catalyst. "Any vegetable oil can become fuel, but not until its fatty acids are converted to chemical compounds known as esters. Currently the acids used to convert the fatty acids are prohibitively expensive. Michikazu Hara, of the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Yokohama, Japan, and his colleagues have used common, inexpensive sugars to form a recyclable solid acid that does the job on the cheap. Their research is reported in last week's issue of the journal Nature." ::Cheaper Veggie Diesel May Change the Way We Drive, via ::Sustainablog