UC researchers develop low-cost technique to remove oxygen from biomass; lower-cost renewable chemicals forseen

In California, a team of researchers from University of California and Berkeley lab led by Jonathan Ellman and Robert Bergman have discovered a new low-cost technique, to remove oxygen from biomass.

“Right now, about 5 percent of the world’s supply of petroleum is used to make feedstocks that are synthesized into commodity chemicals,” said Jonathan Ellman, UC Berkeley chemistry professor. “If these feedstocks can instead be made from biomass, they become renewable and their production will no longer be a detriment to the environment.”

This new process is an evolution of an existing formic acid treatment that could also be useful in converting biomass into biofuels.

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