Producing biofuel on a useful scale requires efficient fermentation of cellulosic plant material. The sugars glucose and xylose are the most abundant carbohydrates found in hemicellulose. The yeast mo...
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Bleaching plant material with alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP) is an old process used for papermaking. Several decades ago researchers suggested that this method also could be used in biofuel producti...
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Lignin is a major component of non-edible biomass (15-30 percent by weight; 40 percent by energy). It is a cheap byproduct of pulp and biofuel production and is one of the few naturally occurring sour...
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Juvenile and adult grass tissue dramatically differs in anatomy, chemistry and ability to withstand stresses. Juvenile plants cannot flower and their leaves are better able to resist cold and drought....
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Levulinic acid is a biomass-derived compound that can be obtained inexpensively in high yields from waste cellulose-containing materials. It has been identified as a top biomass-derived chemical due t...
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Fossil fuel resources supply almost 90 percent of the world’s energy and the vast majority of its organic chemicals. This dependency is insupportable in light of rising emissions, demand and diminis...
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E. coli is the most common prokaryote used to produce protein.  The expressed protein generally accumulates in the cytoplasm.  While this approach is useful for some proteins, not all proteins can b...
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Ethanol obtained from the fermentation of grains and sugars is being blended with gasoline to bolster dwindling petroleum supplies. The alcohol increases combustion efficiency and octane value, and ca...
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Beyond its fuel potential, biomass is poised to supplant nonrenewable sources in the production of important building block chemicals. One such intermediary is 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a primary...
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Sorbic acid has been used extensively as a preservative in a vast array of food. The benefits of sorbates as food preservatives are two-fold: sorbates inhibit a wide spectrum of bacteria, yeasts and m...
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Efficient fermentation of cellulosic feedstocks is an essential step in the production of biofuel from plant materials. Glucose and xylose are the two most abundant monomeric carbohydrates found in he...
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The desire to store renewable energy such as solar or wind energy in the form of hydrogen gas, which could substitute for non-renewable fossil fuels, is driving the development of effective water oxid...
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Increasing crude oil prices and concerns with sustainability have led to a growing interest in producing chemicals and fuels from renewable sources. A major focus for the replacement of petroleum feed...
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Thermodynamically, a specific voltage is required to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. In practice, the actual potential required to oxidize water is greater than the thermodynamic potential. The ...
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The finite nature of fossil fuels along with rising oil prices has prompted a need for alternative fuel sources. One alternative involves the conversion of biomass materials into biofuel. But current ...
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New, renewable sources of transportation fuel and commodity chemicals are needed to meet continuing demand. Biomass has tremendous potential as a renewable resource for the production of fuels and che...
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New, renewable sources of transportation fuel and commodity chemicals are needed to meet continuing demand. Biomass has tremendous potential as a renewable resource for the production of fuels and che...
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Ethanol production from cellulosic biomass can make a significant contribution toward decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels.  However, the fermentation of biomass can be problematic.  One bottle...
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Biofuels produced from biomass provide a promising alternative to fossil fuels.  Biomass is an inexpensive, readily available and renewable resource.  However, the process of converting biomass into...
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Processes that store renewable energy such as wind or solar energy as chemical fuels have the potential to provide a substitute for fossil fuels and ease civilization’s reliance on non-renewable res...
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Hydrogen is one of the most promising alternative energy sources and is expected to have enormous growth potential due to recent advances in technology.  Currently, hydrogen gases are produced by met...
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Recently, significant advances have been made in using heterogeneous catalysts for converting biomass-derived compounds to chemicals and fuels.  One such compound, levulinic acid, can be inexpensivel...
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Alkanes produced from carbohydrates could provide a renewable source of transportation fuel to complement the rapidly growing production of bio-diesel from vegetable oils and animal fats.
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Some experts in the oil industry and geological fields believe global oil reserves will reach peak production within the next twenty years.  They believe that the annual supply of petroleum-based pro...
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