Biodiesel and Ethanol Investing

Delta Farm Press reports that the U.S. Agricultural Research Service studies in Lane, Oklahoma, have shown that simple sugars in watermelon juice can be made into ethanol. Chemist Wayne Fish’s ethanol studies at the ARS laboratory in Lane complement ongoing research there to commercially extract lycopene and citrulline from the crop. In publication-pending studies, Fish showed ethanol can be fermented from the glucose, fructose and sucrose in waste-stream juices. On average, a 20-pound watermelon will yield about 1.4 pounds of sugar from the flesh and rind, from which about 0.7 pound of ethanol can be derived.