The utilization of biomass for the generation of biofuels is now well acknowledged as a promising solution for energy security and rural manufacturing while addressing environmental challenges.  Indeed, the first generation of cellulosic ethanol plants, based on the biotechnology platform, are ‘up and running’ but the recalcitrance of biomass and today’s fuel costs makes these manufacturing facilities challenging. One of the greatest challenges to this technology platform is the cost of today’s pretreatment technologies.  Over the last decade, our knowledge of the plant cell wall and pretreatment chemistries has advanced substantially and we now have a sound understanding how the structure of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin combine to hindered enzymatic deconstruction.  This presentation will review the fundamental factors that contribute to recalcitrance and how accelerated engineering and/or the natural variance of plants can be utilized to reduce biomass recalcitrance and thereby minimize the need for pretreatment technologies which when integrated with advances in biological processing will accelerate the next generation biofuels manufacturing technologies.<br/>

Recalcitrance: The plant cell wall and cellulosic biofuels

254th National Meeting (2017)

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