University of Queensland find new enzyme to boost sugarcane-based fuel production efficiency

In Australia, University of Queensland researchers have found a way to more efficiently convert sugarcane into a building block of aviation fuel and other products.

By zeroing in on a specific enzyme, a UQ team working in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has sped up the slowest step in processing sugar into a chemical called isobutanol. Cell-based production of isobutanol from sugar creates about 25 grams per litre of liquid cell culture but in the UQ study, the cell-free method produced at least 10 times that amount.