While the topic of corn-based ethanol is one of the more divisive subjects among gearheads, a Massachusetts company has come up with a way to potentially solve it with an organism that produces fuel in the forms of diesel and ethanol and there ain’t a kernel of corn in sight. The Cambridge-based company is called Joule Unlimited and we’re guessing is staff with a bunch of brainiacs that were educated at MIT, which is also based in Cambridge and contains more mental horsepower per square foot than virtually any other spot on Earth. 

What the folks at Joule claim to have done is to use “genome engineering” on the mysterious plant, only referred to as “the organism” in the story. Through the genome engineering, they’ve altered the photosynthesis processes so that the plants, through their own natural process secrete the liquid that can be refined into fuel.

According to the CEO of the company, Bill Sims, the liquid is of very high cetane rating and can be refined both into jet fuel and ethanol, as well as diesel depending on the end user’s preference.

According to the story, the company has purchased 1,000 acres of land in New Mexico to begin testing on a large scale to see what types of volumes of fuel could be produced and how the “organism” can grow in different climates and situations. Ultimately, the Joule people see the ideal locations for these types of “farms” to be in the vacinity of coal burning plants and industrial complexes or wherever there is a large amount of CO2 in the air. That CO2 is obviously what the plants like to consume during the photosynthesis process that gives us oxygen, and in this case, diesel.

Hit the link below to learn more. This is an interesting deal to us as does not seem to have the drawbacks of corn based ethanol and can be used to make a couple types of fuel. It would be ironic to pump a tank of nice natural fuel into a big diesel truck and then go belch clouds of soot all over town.

Cambridge Company Has Plant That Produces Diesel Fuel!