Improving biobutanol fermentation from barley straw

Biorefining
By USDA-ARS January 04, 2011

Chemical engineer Nasib Qureshi at the Agricultural Research Service’s National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Ill., has been leading a research team that says barley straw could be a viable feedstock for biobutanol.

Butanol burns cleaner than ethanol, can be transported in existing pipelines, is less corrosive and less prone to water contamination, and packs more energy per gallon than ethanol, according to Qureshi and his research teammates, Badak Saha, Bruce Dien, Ronald Hector and Michael Cotta.

Like other biomass feedstocks, barley straw must be physically broken down and then hydrolyzed with enzymes to release both its five-carbon and six-carbon plant sugars for fermentation into fuel.

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