Nature Technology turns weeds into gasoline

A Japanese biotechnology start-up firm has developed a system to make gasoline from weeds, claiming it to be the world’s first for mass producing “green gasoline” at low cost without fear of resource depletion. “The system is efficient because it can produce 600 liters of gasoline a year, roughly equal to the annual consumption of an average household with one car, from weeds including herbs grown on a land lot of only 20 square meters,” said Michio Sasaki, board director in charge of technology development at Nature Technology Inc. (October 17, 2009)