RedOrbit: Trying to understand the chemistry that turns plant material into the same energy-rich gasoline and diesel we put in our vehicles, researchers have discovered that water in the conversion process helps form an impurity which, in turn, slows down key chemical reactions. The study, which was reported online at the Journal of the American Chemical Society in July, can help improve processes that produce biofuels from plants.
The study examines the conversion of bio-oil, produced from biomass such...