Scientists are working to utilize an enzyme found in tiny marine wood borers to turn waste wood into liquid fuel, according to an article in Science Daily. "Gribbles," microscopic bugs known for eating seaside piers, use the enzyme to digest wood into sugars.
Cellulase enzymes like those of the gribble attach to cellulose, the long chains of complex sugars that make up wood and straw, and chop it up into digestible, fermentable glucose. Scientists from the University of Portsmouth and the University of York are studying the enzyme from gribbles in order to synthesize a more robust version to change woody biomass into ethanol on an industrial scale.
While similar cellulases have been found in wood-degrading fungi, the gribble cellulase is extremely resistant to aggressive chemical environments and can work in conditions seven times saltier than seawater, Science Daily reported. Being robust in difficult environments means that the enzymes can last much longer when working under industrial conditions and could be used with seawater, lowering the cost of processing.
"This is an exciting step in realizing the potential of these important enzymes. If we can harness them effectively, waste materials could be used to make sustainable fuels. It's a double bonus; avoiding competition with land for food production as well as utilizing unused materials from timber and agricultural industries," Douglas Kell, chief executive of Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, told Science Daily.
