
What do pine trees and jet fuel have in common?
Chemistry For Your Life
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The Potential of Terpines as a Platform Chemical
The fact that Christmas trees burn easily because it's a hydrocarbon is also the basis for what Christmas trees have to do with jet fuel. So in order to have a renewable source of hydrocarbons, scientists have enabled bacteria to consume sugar and convert it to terpines. And then there was a 2017 article where they were able to convert pining by opening it to making it something easily polymerized. Is it still bad to burn though in terms of emissions?
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