Tequila plant could produce biofuel

Agave, a plant normally used to produce tequila, has been found to offer significant advantages as a biofuel feedstock.

The crop can be grown on marginal agricultural land, while thriving in dry environments and yielding high sugar content, according to a report from the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment, entitled 'Life cycle energy and greenhouse gas analysis for agave-derived bioethanol'.

'Our analysis highlights the promising opportunities for bioenergy production from agaves in arid or semi-arid regions, causing minimum pressure on food production and water resources,' says Xiaoyu Yan, postdoctoral researcher at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. 'The results suggest that ethanol derived from agave is likely to be superior, or at least comparable, to that from corn, switchgrass and sugarcane, in terms of energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) balances, as well as ethanol output.'

Andrew Smith, professor of plant sciences at the University of Oxford, adds: 'The characteristics of the agave – high water-use efficiency, tolerance of high temperatures, and high content of soluble sugars – suit it well to bioenergy production, but also reveal its potential as a crop that is adaptable to future global warming and climate change. In a world where arable land and water resources are increasingly scarce, these are key attributes in the food versus fuel arguments, which is likely to intensify given the expected large-scale growth in biofuel production.'