Biorefinery

Turning Waste into Value-Added Resources

Microbes are nature’s top recyclers. Genome Prairie researchers are leading an international collaboration exploring the ability of certain bacteria to convert waste materials such as straw, woodchips and paper into renewable biofuels and biodegradable plastics. This...

How a microbial biorefinery regulates genes

Digesting lignin, a highly stable polymer that accounts for up to a third of biomass, is a limiting step to producing a variety of biofuels. Researchers at Brown have figured out the microscopic chemical switch that allows Streptomyces bacteria to get to work,...