Sometimes, you have to wonder if people see the big picture. In this case, we're not so sure.

Researchers at Iowa State University are developing a way to turn fuel ethanol into food-grade alcohol. Unlike the fuel ethanol and other types of fuel we use, there is a greater amount of distillation needed, as well as a lot more chemical processes done, to ensure that food-grade alcohol is actually safe for use. This leads to a high cost for food-grade alcohol and, consequently, products that use it, such as cough medicine, mouthwash, and actual drinks.

The technology which Jacek Koziel, assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, and Hans van Leeuwen, professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, are trying to adapt for this process is composed of two primary steps. First, they bubble ozone gas through the fuel to remove impurities, and then they filter the fuel through granular activated carbon to absorb further impurities in the ethanol.

The two researchers say that once the process is perfected, it should drastically lessen the costs for making food-grade alcohol. According to van Leeuwen, "based on my experience treating water and wastewater with these technologies, this could cost a lot less than a cent per gallon."

What we're potentially missing from the source, however, would be hope for reverse-engineering the process: turning booze into cost-efficient fuel. It sounds insane, but doesn't there seem to be a bit more hope in attempting that? With a war going on, and an impending worsening of the world's oil crisis, we could use all the alternative fuel solutions we could get.