{"id":1161,"date":"2009-08-28T10:22:52","date_gmt":"2009-08-28T14:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.energyrefuge.com\/blog\/?p=1161"},"modified":"2017-09-05T17:53:23","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T21:53:23","slug":"watermelon-a-potential-new-source-of-renewable-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.energyrefuge.com\/blog\/watermelon-a-potential-new-source-of-renewable-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"Watermelon: a potential new source of renewable energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love watermelons \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I mean, they are one of the most delicious, thirst-quenching fruits I know of. And now it seems they can be used to produce biofuel as well. At least, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what an article in the new issue of Biotechnology Biofuels<\/a> magazine says. <\/p>\n

Apparently, 20% of watermelons are left in the field because they are unsuitable for sale (spots, bad shapes). Add to that the fact that watermelon juice contains 7 to 10% directly fermentable sugars and 15 to 35 umol\/ml of free amino acids, then is shows great potential as feedstock, diluent and nitrogen supplement.<\/p>\n

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Reuters<\/a> has picked up on the story and wrote that the watermelon juice can be fermented and used directly or supplement with other biofuel crops. Elsewhere, the British Daily Telegraph<\/a> wrote that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the study discovered that watermelons could produce around 20 gallons of fuel per acre from fruit that otherwise would go to waste.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

In any case, it sounds like a great way to use a huge amount of wasted food stock.
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