Traditional fuels and chemicals production from lignocellulosic materials starts with the pretreatment step to remove hemicellulose and lignin contained in biomass to make the material accessible for enzymatic hydrolysis.  In the enzymatic hydrolysis step, cellulases are added to hydrolyze the cellullose and other sugar polymers contained in the cellulosic materials to produce sugars.  The sugars are then utilized to ferment to fuels (such as ethanol) or other chemicals.  Pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis are the two most costly steps in the whole process.  Although costs to produce cellulase have dropped significantly due to industrial enzyme developments, costs still remain high.  Lowering the processing cost of these two steps is essential for the realization of cost-effective production of ethanol.

A researcher at the University of California, Davis has developed a new biological route for fuels and chemicals production from lignocellulosic materials.  This novel route may completely avoid the two most costly steps in the biochemical platform for biofuels production and bring a breakthrough to the high-cost processing technology of fuels and chemicals production through biochemical platform.

File Number: 19262 

Web site: http://techtransfer.universityofcalifornia.edu/...