Cellulosic Biofuels

Abstract

The development of sustainable, low-carbon, liquid fuels from cellulosic biomass will require advances in many areas of science and engineering. This review describes the major topics of enquiry concerning cellulosic biofuels with an emphasis on those areas of research and development that include research problems of interest to plant biologists.

Molecular insight into lignocellulose digestion by a marine isopod in the absence of gut microbes

“…Such organisms play an import role in the recycling of organic materials leading to the release of CO 2 as part of the natural carbon cycle. In addition, the quest for sustainable liquid biofuels produced from plant biomass has led to a surge of interest in enzyme systems for obtaining sugars for fermentation from this source (1,2). Obtaining nutritional value from lignocellulose is challenging as not only is cellulose highly indigestible due to its crystalline nature but also, the polysaccharide network is sealed in a highly resistant coating of lignin.…”

“…Hemocyanin sequences have been deposited as accessions GU166295 (Hc1), GU166296 (Hc2), GU166297 (Hc3), and GU166298 (Hc4). 1 To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: sjmm1@york.ac.uk.…”

Chemistry and Microbial Functional Diversity Differences in Biofuel Crop and Grassland Soils in Multiple Geographies

“…Second-generation lignocellulosic biofuel sources such as dedicated biomass crops, forestry and agricultural wastes are of interest as renewable sources of energy [1][2][3][4][5][6]. They are also of interest to decrease our national dependence on foreign petrochemicals and to mitigate global climate change effects [7].…”

Recombinant hyperthermophilic enzyme expression in plants: a novel approach for lignocellulose digestion

“…for the large-scale production of economically and environmentally sustainable biofuels [2][3][4]. The main component of plant biomass used as second-generation feedstock is the plant cell wall, which constitutes 70-80% of lignocellulosic polymers.…”