Plant matter is widely thought
of as a promising alternative
fuel source to petroleum. Of course, the key to unlocking lignocellulose—the main building block of plant cell walls and the most plentiful organic material
on the planet—is to break down its hearty matrix of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin among others, and to do it as simply as possible.
Turning plants into ethanol involves three steps: pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, and fermentation. But getting good yields is a challenge. Attempts at genetic engineering to make trees more digestible have led to less viable plants. Reaction times during fermentation are inefficient, in part because yeast used in fermentation doesn’t metabolize all of a plant’s sugars. Although producing the new and promising biofuel 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) involves fewer steps than ethanol production, the reaction can still take hours or days. And after researchers perfect conversion reactions in small beakers, they’ll want to carry over the ...
