How very odd and unexpected. The extra stress produces a higher
quality bio fuel. Thus we can breed for all this to produce a
superior product.
The same likely applies to most other trees as well that are not of
interest for this application but it is good to know that it is an
effect.
I am not an optimist for this type of fuel although a confluence of
willing partners can surely make it work. Not unlike a contractor
and a cement company deciding to operate a waste methane operation.
They work out fine except afterward everyone is wondering why anyone
bothered.
Wind in the willows
boosts biofuel production
Jan 23, 2013
Willow trees
cultivated for green energy can yield up to five times more biofuel
if they grow diagonally, compared with those that are allowed to
grow naturally up towards the sky. This effect had been observed in
the wild and in plantations around the UK, but scientists were
previously unable to explain why some willows produced more biofuel
than others.
Now British
researchers have identified a genetic trait that causes this effect
and is activated in some trees when they sense they are at an angle,
such as where they are blown sideways in windy conditions.
The effect
creates an excess of strengthening sugar molecules in the willows'
stems, which attempt to straighten the plant upwards.
These high-energy sugars are fermented into biofuels when the trees
are harvested in a process that currently needs to be more efficient
before it can rival the production of fossil fuels.
Willow is cultivated
widely across the UK, destined to become biofuels for motor vehicles,
heating systems and industry. The researchers say that in the future
all willow crops could be bred for this genetic trait, making them a
more productive and greener energy source.
The study was led by
Dr Nicholas Brereton and Dr Michael Ray, both from the Department of
Life Sciences at Imperial College London, who worked with researchers
at Rothamsted Research, and the University of the Highlands and
Islands' Agronomy Institute (at Orkney College UHI). The study is
published in the journal Biotechnology for Biofuels.
Dr Brereton said:
"We've known for some time that environmental stresses can cause
trees to naturally develop a slightly modified 'reaction wood' and
that it can be easier to release sugars from this wood. This is an
important breakthrough, our study now shows that natural genetic
variations are responsible for these differences and this could well
be the key to unlocking the future for sustainable bioenergy from
willow."
The researchers
conducted a trial in controlled laboratory conditions on a rooftop in
central London at the Gro-dome facility at Imperial's South
Kensington Campus. They cultivated some willows at an angle of 45
degrees, and looked for any genetic differences between these plants
and those allowed to grow naturally straight upwards.
The team then looked
for the same effect with willows growing in natural conditions on
Orkney Island, off the northern-most coast of Scotland, where winds
are regularly so strong that the trees are constantly bent over at
severe angles. Their measurements confirmed that the willows here
could release five times more sugar than identical trees grown in
more sheltered conditions at Rothamsted Research in the south of the
UK.
Dr Angela Karp at
Rothamsted Research who leads the BBSRC-funded BSBEC-BioMASS project
said "We are very excited about these results because they show
that some willows respond more to environmental stresses, such as
strong winds, by changing the composition of their wood in ways that
are useful to us. As breeders this is good news because it means we
could improve willow by selecting these types from the huge diversity
in our collections".
This work forms part
of the BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre (BSBEC) where it is linked
with other programmes aimed at improving the conversion of biomass to
fuels. Coupled with work at Rothamsted Research, where the National
Willow Collection is held, the new results will help scientists to
grow biofuel crops in climatically challenging conditions where the
options for growing food crops are limited, therefore minimising
conflicts of food versus fuel.
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