An Innovative New Technology to Reduce Recalcitrance of Cellulose
An innovative technology developed by Cellulose Sciences International (CSI) dramatically reduces the recalcitrance of cellulose so that lignocellulosic biomass can be more rapidly converted to glucose. The glucose can be fermented to ethanol or any of the other advanced biofuels. The effectiveness of the new technology is illustrated by its ability to convert corn stover more rapidly than traditional enzyme hydrolytic methods. While traditional enzymatic hydrolysis resulted in 36% conversion after ten hours, the CSI technology resulted in 69% conversion in the same time interval; optimization for corn stover will increase the yield further. The core of CSI technology is a procedure for decrystallizing cellulose that dramatically increases accessibility to enzymes by opening up structure at the nanoscale level. Our goal is to pilot this technology at the 50 lb level during the next 24 months. We believe we can make cellulosic ethanol economically competitive with corn ethanol. READ MORE