Biofuel production cellulose ethanol

BP has investments in an ethanol plant with DuPont and Associated British Foods. It is also investing in cellulosic ethanol research and developing jatropha as a biodiesel feedstock. BP and DuPont are planning a biobutanol demonstration plant and BP would like to eventually convert their ethanol plant to biobutanol production. BP has a 400 million investment with Associated British Foods and DuPont to build a bioethanol plant in the U.K. that may be converted to biobutanol. It has spent 500 million over 10 years at the Energy Biosciences Institute in California to research future biofuels and 9.4 million over 10 years to fund the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in India to study the production of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas. It also has a 160 million joint venture with D1 Oils to develop the planting of Jatropha curcas. 

Cellulose is the most widespread biologic material on Earth. It has been realistically estimated that 3.3 x 1011 tons of C02/yr is fixed on the world s surface and that approx 6.6% of this (e.g., 22,000 million t/yr will be cellulose (almost 41 per person per year) (1). Pure cellulose canbehydro-lyzed by chemical or enzymatic methods to soluble sugars, which in turn may be used as the raw material for many different bioprocesses. Therefore, cellulose from both agriculture and forestry sources has the potential to become a major source of feedstock for the production of chemicals, single cell protein, and biofuels such as ethanol (1). 

For additional information on the production of ethanol, see the essay Biofuels that precedes Experiment 27. In this essay, the production of ethanol from corn for use in automobiles is discussed, along with the production of ethanol from other sources such as plant cellulose. 

Industry and Business Sectors. The major products of the biofuel industry are ethanol, biodiesel, and biogas therefore, research in industry has concentrated mainly on these biofuels. Some small businesses in the biofuel industry include startup research and development companies that study feedstocks (such as cellulose) and approaches for production of biofuels at competitive prices. These companies, many of which are funded by investment firms or government agencies, analyze biofuel feedstocks, looking for new feedstocks or modifying existing ones (corn, sugarcane, or rapeseed). 

M. B. Sticklen, Plant genetic engineering for biofuel production Towards affordable cellulosic ethanol. Nat. Rev. Genet. 9,433-443 (2008)... 

The CBMs found in plant proteins, for instance tomato [110], opens new prospects for the use of CBMs in biofuel production. Plants with high expression levels of these proteins may be engineered, allowing a more efficient ethanol production. For instance, the overexpression of CBM or cellulase-containing CBM in vivo may modulate the cellulose structure as to become more accessible to other hydrolytic enzymes. Furthermore, biofuel research may also help uncovering exciting new uses for these enzymes. 

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