Ethanol from grass? Lakeland man says it's possible

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

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Tjiong said his plants, which are a cross between elephant grass and sugarcane, are a better source of ethanol than corn.

LAKELAND (Bay News 9) -- The soaring price of oil has businesses of all sizes researching new sources of alternative energy, but the situation is also inspiring individuals to experiment in their backyards in hopes of finding a replacement.

Retired minister Giok Se Tjiong is one of those individuals.

Tjiong said he managed to crossbreed elephant grass with sugarcane decades ago in Indonesia, and that he imported the plants to Florida in the 1970s. He said he believes his research shows the plants would be great for making ethanol.

He said his plants are better than corn, which is the current favorite of ethanol distillers, because they are inedible and wouldn't increase competition for food.

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The key to the grass growing in north Lakeland isn't just that it grows so fast, but that it contains a large amount of sugar in the stalks. The plant is very similar to sugarcane, except it grows where sugarcane will not.

His experiments have been approved by the government, which has granted him a license to produced thousands of gallons of ethanol.

Tjiong is trying to perfect a mash formula made from his plants. A friend helped him distill some ethanol using his backyard still. When touched with a match, the ethanol ignites.

Tjiong is experimenting with different mash formulas in his backyard still.

He hopes that one day, his kind of ethanol will burn in car engines as well.

Tjiong said that extracting just 25 percent of the carbohydrates from an acre of his grass could produce 1,300 gallons of fuel. If he is able to prove it, his plants could one day find their way into fuel tanks.