Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur ( IITK ) have found that low - cost crops such as grass and rice hyacinths can be converted into large quantities of the biofuel , cellulosic ethanol . Using a method named micro - scale phenomena , the ethanol can be used to extract the amount of fermentable sugars and bioethanol from hemicellulose , a naturally occurring substance found on plants ’ cell walls . ethanol has not been used widely in biofuel production , as until now the chemical reactions were only able to release a quarter of the soluble sugars needed for ethanol production .
Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IITK) have found that zero-cost materials such as grass and water hyacinths can be converted into large quantities of the biofuel, cellulosic ethanol. Using a method named pore-scale phenomena, the plants can be used to increase the amount of fermentable sugars and bioethanol from hemicellulose, a naturally occurring polymer found on plants’ cell walls. Hemicellulose has not been used widely in biofuel production, as until now the chemical reactions were only able to release a quarter of the soluble sugars needed for ethanol production.