Ames, Ia. - Iowa researchers and biodiesel producers have joined a federal effort to convert plastic trash from military bases into fuel.
The research can change the disposal of plastic, said Balaji Narasimhan, an Iowa State University associate dean of research and economic development.
Narasimhan is among the ISU researchers trying to figure out how to make certain types of plastics dissolve in biodiesel at rates fast enough to use in the public or private sector, he said.
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Lt. Gov. Patty Judge offered a bullish assessment of Iowa's renewable fuels industry on Thursday, crediting it with giving Iowa stability even as the country grasps with a laggard economy.
"The renewable fuels industry is having a direct impact on the people who live closest to the land - Iowa's farmers," she told about 600 people at the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association's Second Annual Summit.
Judge was a late replacement for Gov. Chet Culver, who had been expected to address the summit. Instead, he was in Washington cloistered with other governors and congressmen discussing a federal economic stimulus package.