We develop an integrated framework to determine and compare greenhouse gas (GHG) intensities and production costs of cellulosic ethanol derived from corn stover, switchgrass, and miscanthus grown on high and low quality soils for three representative counties in the Eastern United States. This information is critical for assessing the cost-effectiveness of utilizing cellulosic ethanol for mitig...

Production of renewable chemicals from cellulosic biomass is a critical step towards energy sustainability and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Microbial cells have been engineered for producing fuels and chemicals from cellulosic sugars. Among these chemicals, 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO) is a compound of interest due to its diverse applications. While microbial production of 2,3-BDO with high yi...

Because of the generally more rapid amino acid absorption and lower osmotic pressure of small peptides compared with free amino acids, it has been suggested that 'elemental' diets should contain both small peptides and free amino acids as the nitrogen source. While studying protein hydrolysates intended for use in such diets we observed surprising differences in the absorption of amino acids, w...

Objectives: Menopausal transition with declining estrogen levels significantly affects the physiological properties of women and consequently contributes to a series of medical conditions, including obesity. Obesity is a crucial risk factor associated with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, and breast cancer. Increasing dietary protein content improves satiety and energy expenditure. T...

Xylitol has sweetening, anticariogenic and clinical properties that have attracted the attention of the food and pharmaceutical industries. The conversion of sugars from lignocellulosic biomass into xylitol by D-xylose-fermenting yeast represents an alternative to the chemical process for producing this polyol. A good source of D-xylose is sugarcane bagasse, which can be hydrolyzed with dilute ...

BACKGROUND An industrially robust microorganism that can efficiently degrade and convert lignocellulosic biomass into ethanol and next-generation fuels is required to economically produce future sustainable liquid transportation fuels. The anaerobic, thermophilic, cellulolytic bacterium Clostridium thermocellum is a candidate microorganism for such conversions but it, like many bacteria, is sen...

Cellulosic ethanol has been identified as a promising alternative to fossil fuels to provide energy for the transportation sector. One of the obstacles cellulosic ethanol must overcome in order to contribute to transportation energy demand is the infrastructure required to produce and distribute the fuel. Given a nascent cellulosic ethanol industry, locating cellulosic ethanol refineries and cr...

Xylose-extracted corncob residue (X-ER), a byproduct from the xylose production industry, is a potential cellulose-rich energy resource. However, attempts to achieve large-scale production of cellulosic ethanol using X-ER have been unsatisfactory due to a lack of understanding of the substrate. This study presents the first characterization of the X-ER to evaluate its potential utilization in t...

The cellulosic fabrics cotton, rayon, and Tencel® are commonly used in the textile industry (Kroschwitz, 1990). The chemical composition of the fabrics is similar, but they differ in the arrangement of the cellulose polymers in the fabrics (Collier and Tortora, 2001). The basic polymer for all cellulosic fibers consists of repeating glucose units. For the cotton fabric, the cellulosic polymers ...

Cellulosic biomass includes agricultural (e.g., corn stover and sugarcane bagasse) and forestry (e.g., sawdust, thinnings, andmill wastes) residues, portions ofmunicipal solid waste (e.g., waste paper), and herbaceous (e.g., switchgrass) and woody (e.g., poplar trees) crops. Such materials are abundant and competitive in price with petroleum, and cellulosic biomass can provide a sustainable res...