Nevada researchers trying to turn roadside weed into biofuel

(AP) — Three decades ago, a University of Nevada researcher who obtained one of the first U.S. Energy Department grants to study the potential to turn plants into biofuels became convinced that a roadside weed — curly top gumweed — was growing along the road to the future.

[...] scientists who've been cultivating gumweed on the Reno campus think they are on the verge of producing diesel fuel, and perhaps someday jet fuel, from the sticky cousin of the sunflower that grows across much of Nevada's high desert and doesn't compete for acreage with animal feed or food crops used to make ethanol.

Glenn Miller, an environmental sciences professor in UNR's College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources, is leading the project in the second year of a four-year, $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In recent years, environmentalists have argued that ethanol adds to global warming by removing millions of acres of land from conservation reserve programs for use in corn production, and has led to higher food costs worldwide as more corn is used for fuel.

Instead of adding hydrogen to biomass, he's exploring utilization of oxidation — the same process involved when substances come in contact with oxygen molecules, such as when a fresh cut apple turns brown or a copper penny turns green.