Michigan State University (MSU) researchers are attempting to improve cellulosic biofuel processes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
According to excerpts from the article:
Cellulosic biofuels would be an alternative to biofuel made from the simple sugars and starches found in corn and other grains.
"Unlike simple sugars or even starches in the grains of plants, such as corn kernels, cellulose doesn't dissolve in water,"said Val Osowski of the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.
"This is good for keeping plants healthy, but it's a problem for making biofuels," Osowski wrote on the school's Web site. "Before the complex sugars in cellulose and hemicellulose (from woody plants) can be converted into ethanol or other biofuels, they have to be broken down into simple sugars.
Read the entire article here.