Searching for efficient ways to produce biofuel

With the help of genetic materials from a cow's rumen, U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists are developing new ways to break down plant fibers for conversion into biofuel.

To convert corn stover and switchgrass into biofuel, the plant fibers must first be broken down into sugars. But cell wall polymers are cross-linked in various ways that make them very resistant to breaking down, according to Dominic Wong, a chemist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service Western Regional Research Center, in Albany, Calif. ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency of USDA, and this research supports the USDA priority of developing new sources of bioenergy. 

  

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http://www.hpj.com/archives/2010/oct10/oct4/0922EfficientBiofuelProduct.cfm?title=Searching%20for%20efficient%20ways%20to%20produce%20biofuel