1. Finding more stuff to ferment…
Biofuel
Finding more stuff to ferment…

2. Making ethanol

3. Cellulose Found in the cell walls of plants (wood, fiber, etc.)
Long chains of glucose, 15 to 10,000 monosaccharides long
Chains are bonded to each other and resistant to hydrolysis
Rich source of glucose for food and fermentation, if only we could break it down…

4. Why can we ferment corn & potatoes, but not corn stalks?

6. As if that weren’t difficult enough…
Cellulose fibers are packed in crystalline bundles, surrounded by lignin and hemicellulose to give the plant strength

7. Cellulases
Enzymes (protein catalysts) that break cellulose into smaller sugars
Found in some bacteria, protists and fungi
Termites digest cellulose from wood with the help of bacteria and/or protozoans

8. Cellulases
Cellulase-producing bacteria in cow stomachs (rumen) help digest all that grass

9. Cellulases
Saprophytic and parasitic fungi produce cellulases to break down trees on which they are growing

10. Cellulases
Endocellulases – break apart cellulose fibers from each other
Exocellulases – break long chains of cellulose into disaccharides
Cellobiase – breaks disaccharides into glucose