Watermelon Juice Makes Great Biofuel

Mike writes "Watermelons are more than just a tasty summer snack — researchers at the USDA have determined that the fruit constitutes a promising and economically viable source of biofuel. It turns out that the relatively high concentration of directly fermentable sugars in watermelon juice can be easily converted into ethanol. Rather than grow fields of the fruit for the purpose, the report suggests that farmers capitalize on the 20% of each annual watermelon crop that is left in the field because of surface blemishes or because they are misshapen."

High school cheer..

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess this could lead to my Alma Mater returning to its old cheer:
 
Barbecue! Watermelon! Cadillac car!
We're not as dumb as you think we is!

RUM

[Anonymous Coward]

All the best Rum comes from watermelon.

Re:Duh

[garcia]

Mmmm fermented pumpkins: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ikH9ZRcF2Q [youtube.com]

Re:The more important question

[SilverHatHacker]

Gotta love how most anything that makes a great alternative fuel also makes a dang good alcohol. And they say drinking and driving don't mix...

Re:Wasted fruit?

[Takehiko]

When was the last time you saw a bottle of watermelon juice at the store?

And whose going to pick the seeds?

[101010_or_0x2A]

The queues are long enough at the gas station already without having to wait for people to get EVERY LITTLE SEED out before pumping their cars full..

Re:Compared to what alternatives?

[myowntrueself]

and burning baby seal blubber

The industrialised operations for harvesting baby seal blubber would be a sight to behold!

Great icebreakers with huge scoops on the front ploughing through the pack ice slurping up the baby seals and turning them into bio-fuel. Awesome image there!

Ah for the good old days... Me and my girl, seal clubbing. Me and my girl, out on the ice.

Re:Meh

[jd2112]

It's like having your cylinder head smashed in by a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick.