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" The stuff that makes tobacco bad for you when you smoke it\u2014what we know as tar\u2014is actually an oily substance that is, with a little help from genetic engineering, great for making biofuel. The plant is naturally high in tar, which would eventually become oil naturally if you buried it for millions of years, according to Bill Shelander of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, speaking to KQED. Wired is reporting that Boeing has linked up with South African Airways to do just that, using a variety of genetically-manipulated tobacco called Solaris. The strain was developed by an Italian company called Sunchem that specializes in developing DNA-swapped plants. The interesting thing is that Solaris contains almost no nicotine\u2014it&amp;#039;s useless for the cigarette industry\u2014and is chock full of oil-rich seeds. For aviation use, Solaris seeds will be pressed and converted into jet fuel (essentially kerosene)\u2014but the seed oil can easily be turned into biodiesel using a slightly different process. Another group, a U.S. Department of Energy-backed project called Folium, is using DNA from algae and cyanobacteria to convince tobacco plants to produce and store hydrocarbons in their leaves (rather than producing extra oil-rich seeds), which are then processed to make biofuel. RELATED: F1 boss Ecclestone coughs up $100M to drop criminal trial  Folium and Sunchem see a few advantages to using tobacco: unlike corn, it&amp;#039;s not a food source, so it won&amp;#039;t drive up food prices. It&amp;#039;s already widely cultivated. And it gives tobacco famers a chance to keep producing the crop they&amp;#039;re familiar with, despite declining cigarette sales. That being said, KQED reports that big tobacco companies aren&amp;#039;t driving or supporting these research projects (although that could easily change if it proves to be profitable enough). But it&amp;#039;s an intriguing use for a crop that has a bad reputation. Maybe biofuel can be tobacco&amp;#039;s salvation. RELATED: Ferrari&amp;#039;s steering system patent could increase precision  via KQED and Wired "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/news/a8483/why-not-make-biofuels-from-tobacco/>