- myco-diesel
- n.Diesel fuel manufactured from a fungus. Also: mycodiesel.Example Citations:A tree-living fungus that manufactures diesel fuel has been discovered in South America.Experts believe the organism, Gliocladium roseum, could potentially be a completely new source of green energy....Scientists were amazed to find that it was able to convert plant cellulose directly into the biofuel, dubbed "myco-diesel' ...Professor Gary Strobel, from Montana State University in Bozeman, US, said: "G. roseum can make myco-diesel directly from cellulose, the main compound found in plants and paper. This means if the fungus was used to make fuel, a step in the production process could be skipped.'—John von Radowitz, "Fungus could offer green energy breakthrough," Press Association Newsfile, November 4, 2008Will the Ferrari of tomorrow be fungus-powered?A reddish microbe found on the inside of a tree at a secret location in the rainforests of northern Patagonia could unlock the biofuel of the future, say scientists.Its potential is so startling that the discoverers have coined the term "myco-diesel" — a derivation of the word for fungus — to describe the bouquet of hydrocarbons that it breathes.—Richard Ingham, " Fill her up please, and make it myco-diesel: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081104/sc_afp/scienceenergybiofuelsenvironmentfungus_081104080206," Agence France Presse, November 4, 2008Earliest Citation:Dr David Reay, a climate change expert at the University of Edinburgh, ... said a downside of current biofuels is that they depend on crops that are grown for the purpose of creating the fuel."All of them have this big snag which comes in terms of replacing land that would have been used for crop growth to provide food," he said.However, so-called "second generation" biofuels, such as myco-diesel, do not have that downside because they rely on cellulose, which can be provided by waste products.—Jenny Haworth, " The diesel that grows on trees: http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/The-diesel-that-grows-on.4656287.jp," The Scotsman, November 4, 2008Notes:The word myco-diesel is a combination of the prefix myco-, "fungus," and the word diesel.Related Words: Categories:
New words. 2013.
