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• e85 stations: http://www.e85vehicles.com/e85-stations.htm

TORSPYD, which was designed by Thermya, is the most advanced and developed torrefaction technology currently available. To date it is the only industrially proven process in Europe enabling the torrefaction of any type of agricultural and forestry nonfood biomass, in a continuous way.

TORSPYD technology innovative process is based on the "solid organics distillation principle". This patented technology allows us to fully dehydrate and then depolymerize the biomass in order to produce an absolutely hydrophobic and homogeneous solid fuel; it is characterized by the highest energy yields performance of all technologies known to date.

Torrefaction by TORSPYD allows for the conversion of all kinds of biomass into BioCoal. This BioCoal, which contains less than 1% moisture, retains 95% of the initial biomass energy and more than 90% of its initial dry mass. The BioCoal's net calorific value is around 20500 kJ/kg; far greater than the one of non-torrefied biomass. BioCoal can be mixed to fossil coal and co-fired in thermal power stations without any modification of the facilities. Co-firing BioCoal, as a substitute for coal, eliminates mix-rate limitations, reduces CO2, SO4 and NOx emissions. On top of that, thanks to lower NOx emissions, co-firing BioCoal allows for equivalent energy efficiency with reduced fuel consumption.

As a result of its hydrophobic properties BioCoal cannot incur any biological degradations and can therefore be stored and shipped safely without any risk linked to climate conditions. The TORSPYD torrefaction column is energy self-sufficient: the re-injection of 4% of the BioCoal production into the torrefaction system allows to complement the process's operational energy requirements.

"Today, Thermya is the only company in Europe to offer an industrially proven, fully operational biomass torrefaction continuous process," explains Jean-Sebastian Hery, Technical Vice-President and co-founder of Thermya. Thermya signed a first license agreement in 2009 with the Spanish company IDEMA, Group Lantec. Through this agreement IDEMA will build torrefaction units based on the TORSPYD process.

"In summary, main benefits of our TORSPYD technology are unrivalled performance levels and extremely low operating costs. TORSPYD is the relevant response to the environmental and economical issues electricity producers, operating coal-fired power stations, are currently facing. It also opens up opportunities for manufacturers of classical wood pellets or forest operators, whose production could gain considerable value from torrefaction. Classical pellets are indeed commonly produced from sawdust or from coproducts of the primary wood processing industry, whereas our technology is designed to produce premium quality biomass fuel (totally dry and hydrophobic) directly from forestry residues - hardly used at present. Besides all that, producing premium quality pellets from torrefied wood is less energy-consuming than producing classical wood pellets," comments Hervé Chauvin, Managing Director and co-founder of Thermya.

Thermya will attend the Globe 2010 exhibition in Vancouver (24-26th March 2010) to introduce its technology and initiate commercial and industrial long-term partnerships in the North-American marketplace.

About Thermya:
Thermya is a French engineering company founded in 2002, which specializes in the design of technological solutions to convert non food biomass into carbon or energy. Thermya has developed a unique and innovative proprietary torrefaction technology called TORSPYD®, that allows the concentration of almost all the energy contained in any ligno-cellulosic material. Thermya is also involved in the recycling of wood waste and organic solids. The company is headquartered in Villenave d'Ornon, close to Bordeaux, and has a staff of 15 people including five engineers and four scientists. For additional information please visit:

www.thermya.com
Press enquiries:
Symorg Media Relations Agency
Jean-Christophe Labastugue
+ 33 (0) 6 03 45 11 37
contact@symorg.com

According to Thermya, raw biomass has a high water content, which varies according to its nature. Wood, for example, contains 45 to 60% of water. The presence of water generates many constraints in the biomass valorization chain and affects how well it can be used by motors and ovens. The important physical volume and very low density of raw biomass restricts the productivity of its collection. Due to its physico-chemical nature, raw biomass requires high-pressure compacting operations to be transformed into pellets. From an energy use point of view, raw biomass performs poorly: its combustion in thermal power station boilers demands costly fittings and on-going maintenance.

Torrefaction of biomass brings solutions to the above-mentioned drawbacks; it drastically reduce biomass transformation and utilization costs while considerably improving its energy efficiency. In short, turning raw biomass products into usable fuel. The TORSPYD torrefaction process developed by Thermya consists in heating the biomass through a soft thermal treatment in order to eliminate its water content and break its fibers. The torrefaction process dries up the biomass, makes it irreversibly hydrophobic (water repellent) and concentrates its energy potential into an easily transportable solid fuel. To learn more, visit the official Thermya website at www.thermya.com

At the end of the TORSPYD torrefaction process, the biomass has been converted into BioCoal, a high-quality green fuel. From a logistical point of view, the TORSPYD BioCoal brings many advantages:

• It has retained 90% of the initial biomass mass
• Its moisture content is below 1%
• It has become irreversibly hydrophobic
• It can be stored and transported outside without any degradation risk linked to climate conditions
• It is immune to all biological attacks (rotting, fermentation, etc...)
• It is extremely friable and can therefore be easily crushed or compacted (pelletization).

From an energetical point of view, the TORSPYD BioCoal has many assets:

• BioCoal torrefied by TORSPYD still contains 95% of the initial biomass energy potential
• Mixed with coal, BioCoal can be co-fired in thermal power stations or industrial boilers without any modification of the combustion systems
• BioCoal ignites instantaneously, therefore it boosts coal's combustion, reduces the ash content and improves the boiler's global energy performance.

The TORSPYD torrefaction process is aimed at:

• Electricity producers operating coal-fired power stations - The TORSPYD BioCoal is a very efficient alternative to coal in co-firing or gasification applications. It can be co-fired or substituted to coal in traditional industrial kilns fitted with powder burners, without any modification of the installations.
• Forestry operators - The TORSPYD torrefaction process gives additional value to all forestry residues, including forest resources destructed by xylophagous insects or storms.
• Pellet producers - The TORSPYD torrefaction process considerably increases the value of traditional wood pellets as it drastically reduces production and raw material costs. Torrefaction indeed opens up new supply sources for raw material and eliminates the usual biomass preparation constraints (sawdust is not required).
• Businesses and entities involved in Research and Development of gasification processes - Torrefaction is an optimal and relevant biomass preparation method in view of its gasification.

Illustrated above, the TORSPYD process is a continuous thermal treatment where 2 flows move vertically in opposite directions: the gas flow, which moves from bottom to top, and the biomass flow, which moves from top to bottom. A temperature gradient is constantly maintained in the column filled with crushed biomass. When a given biomass particle moves progressively from the top to the bottom of the TORSPYD column, it first loses its water. Once dried, the biomass particle continues progressing down, crossing gradually warmer zones, which provokes the devolatilisation (untangling) of a small quantity of organic substances in the gas flow, until it reaches the lower zone, where the hemicellulose polymers are broken. This phenomenon then continues up to the point where the biomass particle reaches the lower grid. In the meantime, once it has reached the top of the column, lost its heat and is loaded with organic volatiles, the gas flow is reclaimed, heated and reinjected at the bottom of the column, where it starts a new cycle. The torrefied product obtained at the bottom of the column is called BioCoal.

As of today, THERMYA is the only provider of a fully operational industrial process specifically developed and dedicated to biomass torrefaction. TORSPYD's technical performance lies with the achievement of its initial objectives: optimizing both energy and mass yields, ensuring a homogeneous production (in a continuous process) and the quality of the torrefied material, achieving the lowest operating and maintenance costs. More specifically, the TORSPYD process manages to avoid the formation of tars or pyrolitic juices and integrates, in the torrefaction process, the management of light organic gases coming out of the torrefaction column. Besides, as the torrefaction process is directly driven by continuous measurements right inside the biomass, controlling the biomass residence time has become a consequence of the process as opposed to an essential key to its functioning.

Question: Hello I have noticed an explosion in Stirling engine and rankin cycle generators recently, all of which are either powerd by gas, diesel, oil or the sun. Despite weeks of web searching I have been unable to locate any manufacturers of a Stirling generator which can be powerd by the heat from a log burning wood stove. I'm told by some manufacturers that's because the temperatures of a log stove are too low? 500c doesnt sound low to me! Plus the hot side of the Infinia solar dish system isn't much hotter than boiling water and it works.

I've seen YouTube videos of people running a Stirling engine from a cup of tea... So why isn't there a wood log burning stove for generating power, I just dont get it? My personal stove develops 4.5Kw of hot water every hour in addition to another 3Kw of convection heat. There has to be some way of tapping that and turning it into electricity surley. Anyone have any answers? (send Biomass Authority an email and we'll pass it on). P.S. I don't have the facilities to build my own set up but I could modify an existing one if they will sell just the Stirling engine and generator.

Response: I have been hearing about Stirling engines my entire life, and yet I've never seen one producing energy that I can recall. I know there are a few examples out there, some of which are connected to solar concentrators.

However, if a Stirling engine could compete with the internal combustion engine, it would have replaced it a long time ago. It is not being suppressed by our government, and the patents on it, if there ever were any, would have expired before the Civil War since Mr. Stirling first described it in the early 1800's. I think it's just one of those ideas that sounds attractive on paper until you try to implement it and then realize it's not competitive with the alternatives.

There's a lot of information already on the Wikipedia regarding Stirling engines, and so I wouldn't be able to add much in the way of insights as to why they haven't caught on. It seems that their disadvantages significantly outweigh the fact that they can, in theory, run on any heat source. But the cost of the fuel is only one factor in the equation. The other is the cost of capital and for a Stirling engine, that seems to be its downfall. It takes an enormous engine to produce a small amount of output and all of those materials are costly and must be amortized over the life expectancy of the engine. So until fuel becomes a bigger part of the equation, I don't expect we'll see many examples of Stirling engine generators. But if fuel prices increase several fold over what they are now, then maybe they'll make sense.

Below is an illustration sourced from Wikipedia of Robert Stirling's 1816 patent application of the air engine design which later came to be known as the Stirling Engine.

As a result of our growth as a global civilization, geographies are shrinking, as large distances are now smaller in relative perception to the individual. An individual travels greater distances in a day than many would travel in a lifetime 200 years ago. These innovations, however, have not only provided a primary source of disconnect from our ecosystem, but also have a highly negative effect on our environment, whether it be destruction of land through infrastructure development, or the most pressing problem of waste. The primary waste concern with transportation has to do with the power or the fuel of the product itself. The fuel of cars, buses, airplanes and other petroleum powered transportation vehicles is based around fossil fuel consumption. The emissions from the burning of petroleum have a highly negative effect on the biosphere, leaving a fast-paced, technology-driven civilization searching for answers.

Gravity

The scope of the problem provided by the toxic emissions produced from oil based fuel engines is larger that most environmental issues. With over 51 million cars to be produced in 2009 (Cars Produced), even trace chemicals emitted from one vehicle have disastrous affects when applied to this scale. The primary toxic chemicals emitted from petroleum combustion engines are carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, benzene, formaldehyde, polycyclic hydrocarbons, and lead. However, the most disastrous emission happens to be a compound that is expelled naturally from every animal. CO2 expelled from engines has contributed to an imbalance of a natural symbiotic relationship that every plant and animal enjoys the benefits of every day. The US in particular is the biggest culprit with net CO2 emissions annually of 5,984 million metric tons in 2007 (US Carbon Dioxide).

All these modes of transportation need infrastructure as well. Roads, railroad tracks, and runways are tearing up our environment, leaving the landscape with pock marks to remind us of our dependence. The focus of this essay however, is not to discuss the degrading effects of this infrastructure but to understand the scope of the problem systemically; a critical understanding of this component is crucial.

A modest move away from these vehicles, a common opinion provided by some popular quasi-environmentalists like Orson Scott Card, should be an answer, but how realistic is it? In a high-speed society, reliance on these quick-fix means of transportation is necessary for adoption by the average consumer; no one wants to sacrifice their independence, speed and ability to come and go as (quickly) as they please. Many individuals would fight to continue their lifestyle before even thinking of the repercussions revealed in recent years. As McHarg mentioned in his vital speech on Man, these so-called misfits are pathogens, a cancer on the biosphere (McHarg 635).

The reliance and dependence on cars, buses and planes also stems from a modern mythology, rich in false information and misreading of available information. The mythology is that the expense of being green is too costly and therefore unattainable. Anyone versed in economics, however, knows that once the technology is identified, and the means to scale it are developed, the more following and backing the quicker the costs will decrease. This is the economic curve of scaling technology. Scaling is a large issue to tackle, however, pertaining to not only cost scaling, but also mass production as well as societal embrace. Shrouded in myth as well is the individual cooperation of citizens. The tendency of many individuals is to feel as though they cannot make a difference; however, every change has to start at an individual level and there is much a person can do. The lack of change is in part due to a simple lack of relevant education amongst a large fraction of the population, coupled with the individual's perception of the possible impact of their efforts. This same type of information-action disconnects shows up in nearly every environmental issue. Individuals need to realize that everyone is a part of the problem, and that everyone needs to do his or her part to amend it. This lack of effort just seems to be yet another incarnation of a societal system, induced by delusional self-oriented members of a society, which Hardin identified in the late sixties (Hardin, Garret J).

2008 brought a slight decline in CO2 emissions by comparison to past years in the US; however, the oil price spike had to play a part in this decline. What happened as the oil spike subsided? Car use once again returned to a happy dependence found in oblivion to past events. This quick respite from excusing any task by just using a car was a time for green technologies to strike, and it was. Companies, industries, and corporations saw that Americans, as well as any other nation's citizens, would not adhere to a price gauge without a behavioral change. These responses have paved the road necessary for forward thinking projects on ethanol and biofuel development to realize their full market potential, thus buying more backers and fueling a push for change. The individual still needs to understand that change is incremental and there will not be one cure-all. There will be many band-aids applied to the wound before a true solution is met. The video below is a speach given at the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) in April 2009 by the founder Amory Lovins describing a positive future, the speech is titled "Image a World".

Development

In response to the environmental problems of today, many chemical, agricultural and biotechnology companies are marshalling their resources alone, and in some cases as collaborations, to provide solutions. Ethanol-based fuel is one of the most prominent biofuel research operations underway. It is currently one of the most effective fuel alternatives. As a fuel source, it can be blended with gasoline as anhydrous ethanol and can work in most standard cars on the road today. It is produced through hydration of ethylene, primarily in host crops of corn or sugar. Interest in ethanol as a fuel has been widespread since inception. Currently, Brazil has the largest percentage of supporting products and consumers; the country achieved that current status through a long and highly incremental change. Starting in the late seventies, Brazil passed policy mandating ethanol content minimums in gasoline. By 1977, Brazil mandated that 20 percent of gasoline be ethanol. Thirty years later, cars in the United States typically still only run on up to 10 percent ethanol. Brazil has also provided tax incentives over time to produce and purchase lite-ethanol vehicles.

The appeal of ethanol fuel is quite strong, though there are great negatives attached to the existing ethanol development practices. These negatives are amplified when large industrialized nations are trying to get up to speed at a rapid pace. Crop cycles are an agricultural practice that humans have understood for thousands of years. The crop must change every few years to avoid soil degradation as well as to replace vital nutrients necessary for growth. Whether corn produces food or ethanol, the crop can't always be corn and impatient scaling can have disastrous outcomes as rain forest land and other important ecosystems are destroyed to keep up with demand as has been the case in Borneo and parts of South America.

The most important aspect of the agricultural issues surrounding ethanol development is the so-called food versus fuel quandary. Simply stated, the issue is should a crop be used for food or for fuel? In a world with poverty and far reaching hunger, this issue has social and political ramifications. The 2007-2008 world-food crises were rooted in food scarcity, however, the crisis was in part self perpetuating: when the price of food exceeds the ability of the consumer to pay for it, the food gets moved to a location where a profitable sale can be made. This paradoxically causes the "scarcity." The US's greatest crop yield each year is corn. Corn also happens to be the currently most feasible way for the US to produce ethanol from crops. In three years US corn prices have tripled, maize prices have almost tripled, wheat is estimated up 127 percent and rice is up 170 percent. Through the years 1974 to 2005, food prices actually decreased. This spike in prices has produced more hunger and more discontent. The US and other large nations cannot switch as fast as they would like using existing ethanol development operations, so the search for alternative source development has become the focus for new research efforts by companies like DuPont and Genencore and collaborative efforts between the Department of Energy and oil-producing companies such as Chevron and ConocoPhillips.

Cellulosic ethanol development is a proposed new process for biofuel development. Cellulosic ethanol is quite different from typical ethanol. Cellulose bearing organic material, biomass, is used to produce fuel through an enzyme created for the specific process. Issues with cellulosic ethanol development are very clear. The yields per hectare of land are nowhere near as high, and the process is twice as costly in comparison to producing ethanol from corn (Gardner). Furthermore, the process is not streamlined in comparison to typical feedstock ethanol practices. However, cellulosic ethanol development is opening up a much wider range of potential crop fields used for biomass.

Switchgrass is a crop under heavy research. Switchgrass can grow very easily with little to no maintenance, it produces as large amount of biomass per hectare and it is a fast developing plant species. However, there are many skeptics of the use of switch grass biofuel development. Patzek mentions the corn and switchgrass industries and states that implementing the new 55 million acre switchgrass quota will inevitably eliminate space for other crops (Patzek, "Why Cellulosic Ethanol Will Not Save Us?"). Reaching the appropriate growth and manufacturing scale also poses a great issue. Some economists have argued for an incentive program (Morris 3). Scaling this macro in such a short period, however, almost always results in failure and collapse of the original thesis. It is important to remember that soil content and local weather impact which crops will grow on a given piece of land, furthermore much of our nations suburban housing is being constructed on what might otherwise be prime farmland.

Sequestration of CO2 is another grave concern with ethanol practices. In order to become carbon negative or at least carbon neutral, the life cycle of the whole system must be under critical review (McDonough, Braungart, "Waste Equals Food"). In switchgrass, sequestration is a concern with the root system left in place after harvest. The leftover biomass cannot be used for animal grain feed as it can in the case of corn and sugar cane. The leftover biomass must be burned, requiring more time and energy.

Conclusion

Considering all the issues with new and old practices in ethanol development, the benefits are still very great, especially on a local level. Using ethanol as fuel is a cleaner practice for fuel, and the engine technology is readily available and waiting for implementation. Cars developed with "flex" technology allow for greater mileage with nearly a closed lifecycle in terms of CO2 emission. The cooperation of car industries is essential to put this technology into action. Switch grass cellulosic ethanol development is the most promising of the ethanol production methods on a global scale.

Switch grass ethanol extraction will play a vital role in the band aid global environmental recovery. The potential for the technology is far greater than initially speculated. The policies pertaining to development of such practices are giving an appropriate push for the technology. In contrast, global powers need to provide more policy cohesion in relation to this backing. As a crop that has the ability to maintain itself, switch grass crop implementation needs to pick up over the next few years. Country to country networking and decision making in the future can potentially yield to continents such as Africa to be more influential and vital in the growth processes and extraction methods.

The development of new ethanol practices must be clearly and plainly understood; it is likely that no single practice will be a cure-all. As mentioned before, these developments are all band-aid solutions until a new innovation is researched, designed, and implemented. Individuals are a crucial component to change and they must get past the perceived limitation of impact surrounding their efforts. Cooperation is the only way globally to correct the errors of our ways. Through proper knowledge and understanding of the issue everyone can help to avoid the bleak future that is waiting with failure.

Cited Sources

Card, Orson S. "Life Without Cars." Rhinoceros Times [Greensboro, NC] 8 Apr. 2007, Civilization Watch sec.

"Cars Produced in the World." Online Posting. Worldometers.com. 2009. Worldometers: World

Ekawati, Arti. "Energy Consultant Urges Investment in Nonfood Crop Sources of Biofuels." Online Posting. Checkbiotech.com. 21 Jan 2009. Checkbiotech. 1 April 2009 http://bioenergy.checkbiotech.org/news/energy_consultant_urges_investment_nonfood_crop_sources_biofuels

Gardner, Timothy. "Switch Grass Fuel Yields Bountiful Energy." Online Posting. Planetark.com. 10 Jan 2008 Reuters. 3 April 2009 http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46338/story.htm

"Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Typical Passenger Vehicle." EPA.com. Feb 2005. US Environmental Protection Agency. 1 April 2009 http://www.epa.gov/OMS/climate/420f05004.pdf

Hammel-Smith, C, Fang, J., Powders, M., and Aabakken, J.. "Issues Associated with the Use of Higher Ethanol Blends." NREL.gov. Oct 2002. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. 1 April 2009 http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy03osti/32206.pdf

Hardin, Garret J. The Tragedy of the Commons. Macmillan, 1968.

Ian, McHarg. "Man: Planetary Disease." North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference. Portland, Oregon. 10 Mar. 1971.

McDonough, William, and Michael Braungart. Cradle to Cradle. New York: North Point P, 2002.

Patzek, Tad. "Why Cellulosic Ethanol Will Not Save Us?." Online Posting. Venturebeat.com. 5 Nov 2006. Venturebeat. 2 April 2009 http://venturebeat.com/2006/11/05/why-cellulosic-ethanol-will-not-saveus/

"Putting the Pieces Together: Commercializing Ethanol from Cellulose." Newrules.org. Sept 2006. Institute for Local Self-Reliance. 2 April 2009 http://www.newrules.org/agri/celluloseethanol.pdf

Shapouri, Hosein, A. Duffield, James, and Wang, Michael. "The Energy Balance of Corn Ethanol: An Update." Ethanolrda.org. July 2002. United States Department of Agriculture. 3 April 2009 http://www.ethanolrfa.org/objects/documents/79/aer-813.pdf

Statistics Updated in Real Time. 1 April 2009 http://www.worldometers.info/cars/

"US Carbon Dioxide Emissions Reach Record High in 2007." Online Posting. Mongabay.com. 21 May 2008. Mongabay: Tropical Rainforest Conservation. 1 April 2009 http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0521-energy.html

It's an interesting sight... and smell to be on campus when a biodiesel Buff Buss charges by. For me it conjurs up memories of serving up fast food at McDonalds and Wendy's when I was 16; the busses smell just like french fries! As students ride to and from classes, or to the off campus residence halls at Williams Village and Bear Creek, you get the feeling that progress is really being made here, not just talked about.

Mike West, the director of education for CU Biodiesel, has taught everyone from postgraduate students to second-graders how to brew their own biodiesel, showing how simple it is to create this clean sustainable fuel. By using the veggie oil waste donated from Boulder restaurants and the CU cafeterias, West and his team of faculty including Josh Jaffe who leads outreach and Josh Maynard who heads up R&D, have developed a new way to reach people in the community.

Recently, the CU Biodiesel team has gone so far as to create a completely self-contained biodiesel trailer that they nicknamed ESTER for "Environmentally Sustainable Transportation Education and Research Laboratory". ESTER travels around the state visiting different schools, events and workshops, and creating biodiesel for the CU fleet. It's much more than a portable lab though, ESTER is capable of producing 500 gallons of biodiesel a month and the biproduct, glycerine, is donated to the CU Recycling Center to be used as a fertilizing agent for composting. Now that's recycling! Below you can see a picture from the insideo of ESTER as students check equipment and prepare a fresh batch of biofuel.

Boulder has been known as an entrepreneurial hot spot for years with outdoor companies like GoLite, tech companies like Sketchup (purchased in 2006 by Google for use with their Maps), and ugly duckling companies like Crocs being wildly successful in the shoe industry. In recent years Boulder has become a cleantech hub with support from the University and NOAA. Programs like CU Biodiesel help to inform the community and lead positive change, even spinning off new companies that will eventually power the nation. Visit the CU Biodiesel homepage or the University Website to learn more about the innovative programs and curriculum offered at CU.

Most people aren't aware of what goes on underneath the surface when they find a mushroom. Mushrooms aren't like plants, a single mushroom does not constitute an entire organism. In fact, the mushroom itself is not even the body of the organism, it is the fruit. Like a strawberry or a watermelon, the mushroom merely carries the seeds (spores) that will disseminate out into the environment. The real organism is buried beneath the soil, comprised of a vast branching network of cells known as the mycelial network.

This mycelium is what decomposes organic compounds, returning nutrients to the soil and releasing CO2 for plants to breathe. As the mycelium (a single thread is known as a hyphae) spreads outward, it releases enzymes that break down long polymer chains into their basic subunits, such as sugars. These smaller molecules can then be absorbed through the hyphal walls. The interconnectedness of the mycelial network allows for both rapid break down of organics in soil, and also swift distribution of nutrients throughout the network. Mycelial colonies are extremely resistant to other micro-organisms, as well as physical damage. No particular area of the network is vital to another area, so if a section gets damaged, the network either sacrifices it, or works quickly to repair it. There is also no limit to how large these networks can grow. In fact, one of the largest organisms in the world is an underground mycelial mat spanning 2,400 acres (or 1665 football fields) in a forest of eastern Oregon. The mat is believed to be over 2,200 years old and a small sample is shown in a micrograph below. 

The real magic of mushrooms and their mycelial networks are quickly being discovered. Mycologist Paul Stamets has been driving the field to new discoveries in bioremediation and antibiotics. The ability of mycelium to produce enzymes that break down long chains of hydrocarbons is unique. No other organism is as efficient at producing and distributing these enzymes than is mycelium. In fact, it is so efficient that a mycelial colony is capable of restoring soil saturated with oil and other hydrocarbons that are toxic to life-bearing condition.

In an experiment where bioremediation groups were tasked with reducing a pile of contaminated soil to a reusable state, Paul Stamets discovered a special strain of oyster mushroom that is highly efficient at breaking down the PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) found in oil and petroleum. It took merely four weeks for the mycelium to build its network, and overtake the contaminated soil. Large oyster mushrooms grew straight out of the dirt, some of the caps reaching sizes of 12 inches in diameter! This massive explosion of mushroom fruit bodies attracted innumerable amounts of flies and insects that could call the mound of dirt "home", and the previously contaminated soil became its own habitat. The coming of insects brought birds, the birds brought plant seeds, which were allowed to sprout and flourish after the mycelium had detoxified the soil and provided essential nutrients for grass to grow.

This breakthrough in myco-technology has many beneficial ramifications should they be pursued. Managing fossil fuel waste has been a huge topic of the environmental industry in recent years. Companies that burn fossil fuels stockpile waste until it has to be moved to another location, or buried in the ground, causing further contamination risks. Most fossil fuel wastes contain a significant amount of PAHs, a prime source of energy for mycelium. Mushrooms could be used to significantly decrease the toxicity of this waste by inoculating them with the proper mushroom strain. While this would still leave mineral contaminants such as arsenic, barium, and manganese, many of the PAH carcinogens could be removed by mycelium. In the search for sustainable energy and biomass fuels it is important to remember what can be done to reduce the impact of current fuels on our environment, bioremediation is one alternative making a lot of headway.

In addition, many companies are beginning to utilize biodegradable plastics derived from corn starch and sugarcane. Biota bottled spring water is one great example of this. Their water bottles are made completely from corn which is fully compostable. For all compostable products mushroom mycelium is a great aid in the breakdown process. Not only does it catalyze the composting of these plastics, it can promote healthy soil at the composting sites, and produce mushrooms fruits that could be used for medicinal and culinary applications. In many dense city areas, it is quite difficult to find a region in which plastics biodegrade quickly. By introducing mushroom mycelium, the compost sites could be placed virtually anywhere, even indoors or underground, as mycelium does not require light to grow.

Other provocative discoveries by Stamets include a new type of biofiltration process known as mycofiltration, a fungal strain capable of wiping out termite and carpenter ant colonies, and strains that produce metabolites effective against human pathogens such as pox and flu viruses. Some of these strains grow naturally in old growth forests around the US, and Stamets has been able to get approval from the US Department of Defense to declare these forests national protected land areas as a matter of national defense.

While the mushroom may seem to be a bit mysterious, there appears to be at least one man asking the right question. What can this beautiful organism do for us? Be sure to tune in again for another way mushrooms can restore our planet Earth here at biomass authority!

References

Fungi Perfecti. Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009, from
www.fungi.com/mycotech

Stamets, Paul (2003). Mushroom Power. Retrieved Feb. 14 2009, from
http://www.futurenet.org/article.asp?id=597

1. Your car must be fuel injected for a conversion kit to work
2. You can't burn pure ethanol, the highest concentration is 85% and that's why it's called E85
3. Unless you just bought a flex fuel ready car you have to adjust the computer in your car to sense the ethanol to gasoline ratio so the fuel injectors don't mess up your engine