Grass Is Greener for Biofuels Future

A genetically-engineered bacterium developed by scientists in the US can produce ethanol biofuel from coarse, wild-growing switchgrass, rather than using vital food crops such as maize.

Scientists in the US claim they have developed a simple, one-step process that turns plant tissue into biofuel.  A genetically-engineered bacterium can convert switchgrass into ethanol directly, without any expensive pre-treatment with enzymes to break down the cellulose fibres into something suitable for fermentation.

Biofuel is already big business in the US, with 13.3 billion gallons of ethanol delivered for vehicle fuel in 2012.  It represents a carbon-neutral form of fuel, which is good, but not so good is that much of it has been converted from maize, a food crop requiring vast tracts of agricultural land that may one day be better used to produce food.

However, researchers at the University of Georgia at Athens report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that their new microbe, called Caldicellulosiruptor bescii, can not only convert biomass cellulose to sugars, but also turn the sugars to ethanol for fuel.

And it works on switchgrass, a North American native plant that flourishes on marginal and waste lands.

Grass Is Greener for Biofuels Future