grassahol
n.— «The latest research at Oklahoma State University includes work on a different approach that uses switchgrass to create what’s called “grassahol.” The entire plant, diced into bits, is burned at high temperatures in a device called a “gasifier.” This produces carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen gases that are “bubbled” through a bioreactor, where micro-organisms convert them into ethanol. As an engine fuel, it’s about 85 percent as efficient as gasoline.» —“You’ve Heard of Ethanol; Here Comes ‘Grassahol’” by Ted Landphair in Stillwater, Oklahoma Voice of America Dec. 21, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous students on the first day of class with this strange assignment: find a monarch caterpillar. The result? A memorable lesson in the miracle of metamorphosis...
She sells seashells by the seashore. Who is the she in this tongue twister? Some claim it’s the young Mary Anning, who went on to become a famous 19th-century British paleontologist. Dubious perhaps, but the story of her rise from seaside...