Japan’s Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth and a Honda Motor Co. unit said they have developed a new process to efficiently produce ethanol from soft biomass, a renewable resource derived from plants. Demonstration tests at a pilot plant are being planned to assess the social compatibility and economic efficiency of knowledge_base new bio-ethanol production process. Bio-ethanol has attracted attention as a carbon-neutral fuel that does not contribute to global warming, since carbon dioxide released through bio-ethanol combustion is balanced by carbon dioxide captured by plants through photosynthesis. But bio-ethanol production has been limited because existing bio-ethanol production technologies use sugar and starch from sugarcane and corn feedstock, which are also utilized as food. (September 17, 2006)
