Sandia Researchers Tailoring Fungi-Based Biofuels To Meet The Needs Of Current, Advanced Combustion Engines

Power Online
January 20, 2011

Engine experts and biofuels researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are working on a project that aims to modify an endophytic fungus so that it will produce fuel-type hydrocarbons for transportation purposes.

The biofuels being investigated for the project are produced by a class of fungi — endophytes — that live between plant cell walls. The cellular material in plant walls can be converted into hydrocarbon compounds that work well as fuels for internal combustion engines. Sandia is collaborating with Professor Gary Strobel from Montana State University, a known expert in Ascocoryne sarcoides and other similar fungi.

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