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switchgrass

Metabolix grows bioplastics in switchgrass

Bioplastics company Metabolix has devised what it hopes is an efficient way to manufacture its product: growing grass.

The company on Monday said that it has has created "significant amounts" of its bioplastic by growing it in the leaves of switchgrass. The details of the greenhouse trial are published in Plant Biotechnology Journal.

Metabolix has developed a process for making plastics by combining genes of several naturally occurring substances. It plastics, marketed under the brand Mirel, can be made from corn or other sources of sugar.

Mirel bioplastic, called polyhydroxybutyrate (PHA), are biodegradeable alternatives to petroleum plastic. A … Read more

Switchgrass-to-ethanol comes out clean in study

A large-scale test on the effectiveness of switchgrass to make ethanol gave the native grass high marks on energy production and greenhouse gases.

Switchgrass is a favorite of politicians and cellulosic ethanol advocates who say that the grass, which can grow to nine feet, is a better feedstock than corn--the source of most ethanol made today.

A study published on Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) found that switchgrass contains five times more energy than it takes to grow it, which makes it significantly more cost-effective than corn.

The average greenhouse gas emissions from cellulosic … Read more