Moving from Tequila to Ethanol
Published: Friday, August 08, 2008
With a history that stretches well back into pre-Columbian times, certain varieties of the Agave family are beginning to capture the attention of investors and researchers interested in indigenous plants and trees in countries around the world that are not used to produce food and have attributes that make them prospective sources of ethanol.
A small group of Mexicans from the academic and private sectors has been trying to get an Agave-to-ethanol project up and running. Years of effort have led to a tentative agreement with INE (Mexico's national ecology institute) to provide funding that will enable the project's research team to ramp up efforts to cultivate, conserve and patent-protect selected examples of the Agave tequilana weber and Agave angustifolia Haw. varieties and build up a germ plasm bank that would serve as repository for researchers and projects around the country, including their own Agave-to-ethanol project.
Notorious for their intoxicating effects, both tequila and mescal are derived from varieties of the genus Agave. In a country rich in botanical cultural heritage, Agave species have played a large role in traditional Mexican culture, one that rivals that of maize and cacao in significance.
Though they remain largely untested and untapped, a large and diverse range of potential products, environmental and socio-economic benefits can result from sound, long-term policies that support enhanced Agave cultivation, say proponents of the Agave-to-ethanol project, one notable member being Professor Remigio Madrigal Lugo, Mexico's first Ph.D. in agricultural biotechnology and internationally published author who serves as a Council member at the Autonomous University of Chapingo.
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