womplex_oo1 wrote: >What energy efficient, eco-friendly methods exist to convert >cellulose to sugar so that entire plants - leaves, stem, roots & all - > can be fermented into ethanol? I've heard termites do this >routinely...
I don't think it's termites do that, they use cellulose as a substrate in their fungus farms. They don't eat the cellulose and they don't eat sugar, they only eat the fungus. And they're the most beautiful farms I've ever seen. The cellulose isn't converted, it's rotted, in what looks like a very small compost pile, and probably is just that. I found manure worms under one of those piles, quite possibly they're also involved somehow. It would be a very controlled rot, I don't think those fungi will grow anywhere else. Advanced bio-engineering, all this. That termites do something routinely doesn't mean we could do it at all, they're extraordinary creatures. Not at all the only ones - have a look at this guy. Check out the movie (top right) - doesn't hesitate at all, knows exactly what to do: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2178920.stm Here's a rare classic, a true work of genius - full-text online (white ants are termites): "The Soul of the White Ant" by Eugne N. Marais http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library.html#marais See: "Ethanol from cellulose": http://journeytoforever.org/ethanol_link.html#cellulose Keith ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> 4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/MVfIAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
