it possible to develop maize varieties with cell walls that are more easily degradable,
so that they can ultimately be more readily converted to sugars and bio-fuels via
saccharification and fermentation? It is important to explore this question because the
processing cost of converting cell walls into alcohol is currently still too high to make
cellulosic ethanol a commercially attractive proposition.
‘The goal of this project,’ explains dr. Luisa Trindade Plant Breeding Group Wageningen
UR, ‘is to optimize the cell wall carbohydrate composition of maize in order to improve
the efficiency of polysaccharide conversion into monosaccharides, an application that
can also be used in fermentation processes for either bioethanol or biomethane production.’
‘Plant breeding can play a major role in the transition to an economy,’ Trindade continues.
‘By modifying plants we can obtain energy more efficiently and affordably. Plant breeding
contributes to the transition to a sustainable bio-based economy. And more importantly,
we can give industry new materials for making new and better products.’