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Science/Tech See other Science/Tech Articles Title: Mozambique sends first biofuel export to German airliner Mozambique has exported its first batch of biofuel produced from the jatropha plant for use by the German airline Lufthansa, a company official told AFP on Friday. Oil crushed from non-edible seeds from the drought resistant and fast growing plant are produced in the central province of Manica by British company Sun Biofuels which has sent 30 tons to Germany. "The world market is demanding huge quantities of bio-fuel," the firm's director of corporate affairs Sergio Gouveia told AFP. "Luftansa alone is seeking 400 million litres per year of bio-fuel across the world." He did not reveal how much they had been paid for the shipment, but said biofuel prices vary between between $900 and $950 (661 euro) per ton. Some experts remain sceptical about the viability of biofuel because of a lack of detailed scientific studies on the subject -- and critics object to the practice of growing inedible crops in a poor country. Supporters of the scheme say Jatropha, a poisonous plant, can grow almost anywhere and yields high outputs of cleaner, renewable energy, without taking quality farmland away from food crops. Last November Lufthansa announced that a test of regular local flights partly run on biofuel would start in 2011. It said it aimed to to use biofuels for between five and 10 percent of all consumption by 2020. Comments: Mandy Just to put this shipment in perspective, 30 tons of biofuel is less than half of what a Boeing 747 takes on to make a cross-ocean flight. I can't imagine how Lufthansa expects to run 10 percent of its fleet on biofuel. It would be importing from all over the world. Just think of the arable land required to do just that much. Now add in all the other people drooling over biofuel and you'll see why this will be delegated to a trivia question very soon. Nathan R the plant that was used for this admittedly small batch of fuel is a poisonous plant that will grow in conditions that other plants will not. It doesn't require high grade soil like soybeans or corn. it can be grown in places where nothing else will grow. Frank W. Baker If my old wine soaked memory serves me right, I believe the US military developed this process during WW2. And it's already growing naturally in abundance in West Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. I think that their biggest problem was how to harvest the seeds in VERY large amounts.
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#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
Hemp now, bump.
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