A recent research supported by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science and performed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory provides an insight about the molecule that eludes the production of next-generation biofuels.
The scientists were baffled about the shape and structure of the mass cluster formations by lignin, a constituent of plant cell walls during the cellulosic ethanol production process.
New molecular models of lignin aggregates are helping scientists understand a limiting factor in the production of ethanol
The cluster formation of Lignin slows down the conversion of biofuel feedstocks such as switchgrass into ethanol, a clean energy alternative for gasoline. During the ethanol production process, the lignin collects the enzymes used for releasing the plant sugar needed for ethanol conversion in to clusters thus reducing the conversion efficiency.
The ORNL team during the research utilized complementary techniques such as neutron scattering by utilizing the High Flux Isotope Reactor at the lab and simulation on Jaguar supercomputers kept at ORNL to reveal the surface of the structure of lignin. They brought down the lignin’s structure to 1 A comparable to lesser than the width of a carbon atom or a 10 billionth of a meter to view it.
The researchers found that the folded surface of lignin enabled to collect the passing enzymes effortlessly. This new finding is anticipated to assist the scientists to formulate a more efficient pretreatment procedure to improve the production of biofuels and to bring down the production costs.