Researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia strongly believe that oil in the leaves and stems of plants as well as the seeds may become a game changer in the global production of renewable oils.
They focus their attention on high-level oil production in vegetative tissue, such as in stems and leaves, in contrast to traditional oil-rich seeds and fruits of some specialized plants, such as canola, soybean, sunflower, coconut and oil palm, oil from which currently is roughly twice as expensive as the price of crude oil. The research team has been able to get about 35 per cent oil content into some vegetative tissue, what is comparable to the oil amount in oil seed crops.
Biofuels are considered as a carbon-neutral alternative to fossil fuels. The plants and algae used to produce the biofuels absorb carbon as they grow, offsetting the carbon released when they are burned. Read more at https://www.theguardian.com
