The traditional processing of agricultural products such as corn, sugar and grains into ethanol relies on fermentation using yeast.

However, current technologies in use around the world are still limited by this process’ ability to break down agricultural sugars, and biofuels production is still largely reliant on agricultural products commonly used as food.

Other parts of the plant, such as husks and stalks, are still destined for agricultural waste disposal sparking an international race for “cellulosic” biofuels production techniques that will enable agricultural waste to be used as a feedstock.

DUT researchers have been investigating the potential for genetically modified yeast to improve the efficiency of biofuels production by inserting a gene derived from the fungus into the yeast.

Xylose is a simple five-carbon sugar that makes up a high percentage of the complex sugars commonly found in cellulosic plant matter, typically the “woody” parts of the feedstock discarded by ethanol producers.

DUT’s genetically modified yeast makes it possible to convert xylose sugars into ethanol, increasing the potential for producing bio-ethanol from supplies of leftover materials, and researcher Marko Kuyper has been credited as improving the process to enable industrial-scale use of the modified yeast as part of his PhD studies.

Kuyper received his PhD early this month, and his research has sparked an academic-industrial research partnership between DUT, the Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation, Netherlands industrial alcohol producer Royal Nedalco and BIRD Engineering.

The partnership said it expects to achieve large-scale industrial implementation of the gene-driven cellulosic ethanol production technique within five years.