Clean, New Bioenergy Sources: One Molecule at a Time

Author: Jenice Con Foo
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Mad City Labs Inc.

Researchers at Penn State University are spearheading a multidisciplinary research effort to explore ways to produce bioethanol more efficiently from lignocellulose. Importantly, this is not corn ethanol; it is ethanol derived from corn stalks, switch grass, and fast growing weeds which would be otherwise composted. In order to investigate the enzymatic breakdown of cellulose and explore the optimum efficiencies that can be obtained, the Hancock lab at Penn State employed various microscopy techniques with the aid of a unique single molecule microscope.