Ethanol fuel from sweet potatoes and grass

NC State University plans to turn a laboratory method for turning sweet potatoes and grass into ethanol into a sustainable process that could further help produce "renewable" fuel and eventually lead to creation of more jobs in the state.

The following article released March 8, 2007, explains how the university will try to build a production facility and try to make the proposal a reality...

News and Observer
March 8, 2007
Tim Simmons, Staff Writer

Turning potatoes, grass into ethanol
NCSU gets $1.5 million for test plant

Researchers at N.C. State University already know they can make ethanol from sweet potatoes and switchgrass.

They don't know if they can do it day after day in quantities more meaningful than a lab beaker.

A $1.5 million grant, announced Wednesday by the Golden LEAF Foundation, could help them figure it out.

NCSU will use the money to build a pilot plant capable of making ethanol from products commonly found in the state, such as loblolly pine, sweet potatoes and switchgrass -- a tall, dense grass often used as field cover. Read more...