Thursday, February 09, 2006

Ethanol From Candy

... or what have you:
Since 2003, Xethanol has operated two Iowa plants that can cheaply distill a gasoline additive called ethanol from bizarre sources such as stale butterscotch candy. When technicians mix the sweets with a special form of yeast, fermentation results, producing ethanol. (Typically producers of ethanol derive the clean-burning, high-octane fuel from corn.) Big oil companies then combine it with unleaded gasoline to reduce the cost of gas and the air pollution it causes.
Xethanol claims they will be profitable this year, the first time since their founding in 2000, but that's in part because of federal subsidies. Geesh.