Researchers see breakthrough in efficient biofuel production

The Environmental News Network and several science and industry trade outlets highlighted a research partnership between the University of Cincinnati and U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory to improve the production of biofuel.

In a study published in the journal Langmuir, researchers reported on their breakthrough in understanding the vulnerability of microbes to the alcohols they produce during fermentation of plant biomass.

With the national lab’s neutron scattering and simulation equipment, the team analyzed fermentation of the biofuel butanol, an energy-packed alcohol that also can be used as a solvent or chemical feedstock.

Butanol is toxic to the very microorganisms that produce it. This toxicity limits the amount of butanol that can be generated during fermentation, presenting a challenge to bio-based production, said Jonathan Nickels, an associate professor of chemical and environmental engineering in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Read the Environmental News Network story.

Featured image at top: Researchers in UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science are working to produce biofuel more efficiently. Photo/Unsplash