University of York scientists have found a method to convert cellulose efficiently into bioethanol.

The researchers identified the molecular mechanism behind an enzyme found in fungi that can degrade the cellulose chains of plant cell walls to release shorter sugars for biofuels, using the copper-dependent TaGH61 enzyme to overcome the chemical inertness of cellulose.

Current global generation of cellulose is equivalent in energy to 670 billion barrels of oil — some 20 times the current annual global oil consumption. The discovery opens the way for the industrial production of fuels and chemicals from plentiful and renewable cellulose in waste plant matter, the researchers said.

Ref.: R. Jason Quinlan, et al., Insights into the oxidative degradation of cellulose by a copper metalloenzyme that exploits biomass components, PNAS, 2011; [DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1105776108]