NREL and ORNL researchers find sugar yields of lignocellulosic feedstocks key

In Colorado, popular wisdom holds that tall, fast-growing trees are best for biomass, but new research by two U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories reveals the size of trees is only part of the equation.

Of equal economic importance, according to scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), is the amount of sugars that can be produced from the lignocellulosic biomass that can be converted into fuels.

The researchers analyzed 900 samples of black cottonwood trees grown in Oregon to determine how variations in their size and composition affect feedstock quality and biorefinery economics.