Loosen up cell walls and get the sugars out

Plant cell walls, which constitute the bulk of plant biomass, are diverse, complex, and dynamic in their structural composition and integrity. Cell walls are innately resistant to deconstruction by biological or chemical catalysts. This property is often referred to as recalcitrance, and recalcitrance is considered the primary barrier to cost-effective production of cellulosic biofuels. Pretreatment of plant biomass can loosen the structural integrity of cell walls, reducing their recalcitrance to deconstruction, and this study provides insights into how pretreatment induces such cell wall modifications in different types of biomass.

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Ken Notes: Great read. Do not forget two other imperatives, scalability, and profitability. I remember interviewing a UW professor about producing alcohol/ethanol from corn stover in the early 90`s. He showed me a six ounce bottle that they had produced in the lab to prove it could be done. When I asked how much it cost he mentioned a million dollar grant and current projections that the cost would be hundreds of dollars a gallon. But it could be done. Others, at the exact same time, were seeking grants from local government to build plants to begin production.