A shot of ‘tequila-power’ could provide a boost to biofuels: study

Agave, the hardy desert plant widely used in Mexico to make its famous liquor tequila as well as the hallucinogenic drug mescal, could prove an important source for cheap, eco-friendly biofuel, according to a new study by UK and Australian scientists.

Agave is already known for producing ''rocket fuel'', but it is now being trialled in Mexico and Australia as a source of low-emission car fuel.

The agave plant family - succulents with a radial spray of big fleshy leaves - generates a large amount of fuel for the energy and water needed to grow it.

"Agave has a huge advantage, as it can grow in marginal or desert land, not on arable land," and therefore would not displace food crops, said Oliver Inderwildi of the University of Oxford.

Much of the ethanol used as a substitute for petrol is currently produced from corn, especially in the US, and sugarcane in Brazil. This has been criticised for driving up grain prices to record levels. A recent inquiry found that laws mandating the addition of biofuels to petrol and diesel had backfired badly and were unethical because biofuel production often violated human rights and damaged the environment.

But the new study found that agave-derived ethanol could produce good yields on hot, dry land and with relatively little environmental impact. The agave plant, large rosettes of fleshy leaves, produces high levels of sugar and the scientists modelled a hypothetical facility in the tequila state of Jalisco in Mexico which converts the sugars to alcohol for use as a fuel.