Developing of such enzyme will be the major step towrds cost reduction in ethanol production from lignocellulosic material.

Pratap

If this process increases the energy balance of corn ethanol, it's a good thing.

There is no doubt that Dyadic is achieving major advances in sustainable biofuels production.

However, sustainability requires us to look at the whole picture, otherwise, the weak links can render the process unsustainable.

In this case, the weakest link is the topsoil used to grow the crops for cellulose ethanol and bioplastics. The lessons of the past should be heeded. If we also process the DDGS into industrial products, we are destroying the essential link of returning the DDGS, which contain ALL of the soil nitrates, phosphates, sulphates, and trace elements, back to the soil from whence they came. A few years down the line our proud "sustainable" ethanol-based economy will hit the brick wall of depleted soils and reduced productivity, and the whole enterprise will be history.

On the other hand, by returning the DDGS back to the soil from which it originated, not only are all the bioavailable elements (except for H20 and CO2 embodied in the ethanol) returned to their source, but the soil fertility is increased by about 10% per year, because the mycorrhizal fungi and bacteria in the soil become hyperactivated by the DDGS, and begin to do what they do so well - breaking down insolubles (rock!) into the solubles essential for soil and plant health.

In addition, enough of the plant must be left behind at harvest to produce a positive carbon balance in the soil. Then we will be blessed with the apparent paradox that the more we plant, the thicker and better the soil will become.

Let the bitter lessons of the past inform our actions in the future. If we get greedy, we die. If, instead of regarding Nature as a bottomless source of feedstock to exploit for profit, we recognize her as a partner who will provide us with unimaginable benefits if we consider her well-being to be as important as ours, then we will be able to recreate a paradise on earth for ourselves and future generations.

Frank Michael

I am dully impressed that their enzyme cocktail works on coniferous Douglas fir. Usually coniferous species are no good for paper/pulp production, let alone cellulosic ethanol fermentation. It opens huge amounts of wastes from construction materials production to be converted to premium liquid transportation fuel.

"Who is going to determine what is unused wastes and useful wastes."

The standard answer is that markets are the best determiner of what is the best use of a product. If DDGS is better used as fertilizer than as a feedstock for ethanol, then farmers will be willing to pay more for it than ethanol producers will be willing to pay.

There are problems with this of course; mostly due to the subsidies that the ethanol industry gets that distort market demand, but in general it is probably better to let the market sort out best use rather than create laws to mandate specific uses for any given product.