Compost heaps 'could help improve biofuel composition'

Biofuel composition could be improved if more xylose from willow, straw and similar such rapidly growing feedstocks could be used in place of glucose for bioethanol production, reports Lund University.

Nadia Skorupa Parachin, a researcher in applied microbiology, is now helping to pave the way towards this improved biofuel composition, using enzymes found in garden compost which she has now patented for use in bioethanol conversion.

"If we just want to make use of the glucose [in feedstocks] then normal bakers' yeast is sufficient [for bioethanol conversion]," she says.

"However, if the xylose is also to be converted to ethanol, then genetic modifications have to be made to the yeast."

In early testing, the enzymes studied here have already indicated better xylose bonding performance than those in existing use elsewhere.

Lund University is the largest research and education institution in Scandinavia, with a presence in Lund itself, Helsingborg and Malmoe.