Minnesota student makes breakthrough with anaerobic fermentation research

In Minnesota, a high school student is set to make a splash at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ESEF) in Phoenix in May with his research that found how cellulosic ethanol production costs could be reduced as much as 20 cents a gallon by combining hydrolysis and anaerobic fermentation. He used corn stover as his biomass and tested clostridium thermocellum, thermolactium and a co-culture using equal parts of both micro-organisms to see which produces the most ethanol.