VOA慢速英语2014 美国公司从垃圾提取天然气

 

AS IT IS 2014-06-13 Companies Make Gas from Garbage 美国公司从垃圾提取天然气

The future in energy production is here.  And some of the materials used to supply the energy may surprise you!  Companies have developed a way to turn plant wastes and other garbage into fuel.  It has been called one of the most promising¹ technologies in alternative energy.  And the process is expected to become more common this year.

The American-based company Fiberight is taking the lead in this new form of energy production.  Truck loads of garbage are sent to Fiberight’s test plant in southern Virginia.  Randy Garrett heads the plant.  He says old vegetables, cardboard boxes and other wastes become something much more valuable through the work done at the factory.

“What we’re doing is taking a, that (what was) originally headed for a landfill, half of this material is going to be processed for the conversion² of biofuel such as ethanol.”

Ethanol makes up about 10 percent of America’s fuel supply.  Nearly all of it comes from corn, the food known as maize³ in some countries.  Critics say this creates competition between food and fuel, and raises food prices.  Environmentalists say farmers are using more land to plant corn crops.  They also say farmers are using more fertilizers and products for killing⁴ insects.  They say this creates more pollution. 

But Fiberight does not depend on corn to produce fuel.  Randy Garrett says the garbage is loaded into a huge pressure cooker.

“That converts your paper, your cardboard, banana peels, any organic fibers⁵, it converts it to a pulp⁶.  That pulp is what we’re after for our energy-fuel conversion.”

The material that comes out of the cooker is mostly cellulose, a substance that can be made into sugar.  The sugar can then be turned into ethanol.

In 2007, President George W. Bush signed a law that required increasing amounts of ethanol in U.S. gasoline.  One goal of the law was to support production of new kinds of fuel.  The energy created from plant material would produce fewer environmentally harmful gases than those from oil-based fuels.

This year, several other fuel production plants are expected to start making ethanol from the cellulose in corn stalks, wheat straw and other plant material.

Madhu Khanna is an agricultural economist⁷ at the University of Illinois.  She says making cellulosic ethanol turned out to be harder than expected.

“We know how to do that in a lab.  The main problem is doing that in a continuous way, cost-effectively on a large scale.”

Ethanol production from cellulose has yet to meet expectations.  However, this year could be the turning point.  But Madhu Khanna says our cars may limit how much the industry can grow.

“Even if we can begin to produce this cost-effectively, we need to be able to consume it as well.”

Only a few models of automobiles⁸ can operate on high-ethanol fuel.  Without more of them, there is only so much gas from garbage that will sell.

1 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

2 conversion   

n.转化，转换，转变

参考例句：

• He underwent quite a conversion.他彻底变了。
• Waste conversion is a part of the production process.废物处理是生产过程的一个组成部分。

3 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 fibers   

光纤( fiber的名词复数 )； （织物的）质地； 纤维，纤维物质

参考例句：

• Thesolution of collagen-PVA was wet spined with the sodium sulfate as coagulant and collagen-PVA composite fibers were prepared. 在此基础上，以硫酸钠为凝固剂，对胶原-PVA共混溶液进行湿法纺丝，制备了胶原-PVA复合纤维。
• Sympathetic fibers are distributed to all regions of the heart. 交感神经纤维分布于心脏的所有部分。

6 pulp   

n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆

参考例句：

• The pulp of this watermelon is too spongy.这西瓜瓤儿太肉了。
• The company manufactures pulp and paper products.这个公司制造纸浆和纸产品。

7 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

8 automobiles   

n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• When automobiles become popular,the use of the horse and buggy passed away. 汽车普及后，就不再使用马和马车了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Automobiles speed in an endless stream along the boulevard. 宽阔的林荫道上，汽车川流不息。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》