Turning watermelons into energy?
As we enter the peak watermelon-eating season, it turns out someone has figured out a new use for all the juicy red fruit that doesn't get slurped down over the Independence Day holiday weekend - fuel to run your car!
According to Inside Science News Service, scientists at the Agricultural Research Service in Lane, Okla., have been processing watermelons to extract their lycopene and citrulline, two substances believed to boost heart health. A chemist there, Wayne Fish, figured out that the juice left over after that extraction was rich in sugars that could be fermented into ethanol. He estimated that a 20-pound melon would yield about seven-tenths of a pound of ethanol.
If you think that's an awful waste for a tasty food, consider this - an awful lot of watermelons never make it to those cookouts. Though farmers harvested 4 billion pounds of melons in 2007, the news service reports, they left 800 million pounds in the fields with external blemishes or deformities that made them hard to sell.
Comments
wow,,it really surprise me. Not watermelon can transform to energy...good research..
Posted by: chuckiesd | July 7, 2009 10:06 PM