New biofuel production process created

COLLEGE PARK, Md., March 13 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have developed a process that might be able to convert brewer's mash and other kinds of plant products into ethanol or other biofuels.

The University of Maryland research that started with bacteria from the Chesapeake Bay led to the development of the process by Professors Steve Hutcheson and Ron Weiner, who subsequently founded an incubator company called Zymetis.

Hutcheson and Weiner said their Zymetis process can make ethanol and other biofuels from many different types of plants and plant wastes called cellulosic sources. They said cellulosic biofuels can be made from non- grain plant sources such as waste paper, brewing byproducts, leftover agriculture products such as corncobs and husks, as well as energy crops such as switchgrass.

When fully operational, the scientists said the technology could potentially lead to the production of 75 billion gallons a year of carbon-neutral ethanol.

Hutcheson and Weiner won the university's 2007 Office of Technology Commercialization Inventor of the Year Award for their enzyme system invention.