Environmental Policy: A New Direction in Ethanol Production.

The article presents a study which aims to characterize the amount of sugars, lignins and other components of leaf litter which can be used in ethanol production in the U.S. The study grounded leaves collected in the fall of 2007 which were then treated with sulfuric acid, were incubated, autoclaved and residual solid were then collected. The samples were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The study shows that the leaf litter was made up largely of lignins while cellulose, arabinan and xylan were found only in small quantities. Based on the findings the study concludes that fall leaf litter can yield approximately 60 gallons of ethanol per ton of leaves.