Focus Areas
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Biological, Chemical and Thermal Biomass Conversion
Some of the research areas that will help to advance conversion of biomass to fuels and chemicals are:
- Development of more active cellulases.
- Metabolic engineering of bacteria to improve fermentation of a range of sugars and allow production of fuel and chemical molecules other than ethanol.
- Membrane separations to remove inhibitory compounds.
- Improved thermal and chemical processes for fuel production via synthesis gas routes, and for extraction and conversion of oil crops (including algae).
Integration with other focus areas
Interactions with research in the other focus areas is critical to achieve the best solutions; for example, plant species under development by crops scientists could be used as feed stocks in biological/chemical/physical conversions and the fuels produced through that processing could be characterized in engine tests.
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