Recently the Chinese scientists discovered that the water hyacinth, one of the top ten pernicious weeds, can turn into the clean energy such as fuel alcohol, hydrogen and methane under the alkali and microwave.

The news release conference of the Chinese science association’s technical journal was held in Beijing on the afternoon of Nov 26th. During the conference the latest paper <the influence of the pretreatment by microwave and alkali on the water hyacinth’s enzyme hydrolysis> on the Proceedings of the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering was recommended. The group from the national key laboratory on clean use of energy, Zhejiang University studied on the influence of the microwave and alkali on the water hyacinth’s enzyme hydrolysis and saccharification, including the heating-up period, the power of the microwave and the alkali dosage. The research indicated that the organic constituents of the water hyacinth such as cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and protein deteriorated in various degrees under the recombination action of microwave and alkali; with the help of the cellulose these constituents turned into a large amount of glucose and xylose, which could produce the fuel alcohol by the further fermentation. It found a new way to use the water hyacinth as energy.

The water hyacinth can be seen in large water areas of 19 provinces and cost large damage, so it is on State Council’s first invasive species list. The common water hyacinth is a vigorous grower known to double its population in two weeks, and it can grow up to 600,000 from 10 during 8 months under suitable conditions, which unbalances natural lifecycles, blocks the stream way, affects the shipment and damages hydroelectric power facility. Therefore, the research product is essential to improving the environment pollution caused by the water hyacinth, developing the new clean bio-energy, impelling the policy of energy-saving and emission-reduction and developing the low-carbon economy.

It’s said that the water hyacinth has three characteristics compared with the agricultural wastes like straws: 1, up to 95%moisture content; 2, abundant protein; 3, much heavy metal pollutants in the roots. The key to produce the alcohol with the water hyacinth is to deteriorate them efficiently and economically into the reducing sugar, which can be used.