Description:
Technology Summary
Biofuels are an integral part of the ever growing renewable energy landscape. As with any harvesting or manufacturing strategy, yield matters greatly in determining the viability and profitability of the process. This technology is a strategy to increase cellulose and cell wall content in plants, thereby increasing the percent yield of these components for biofuels or other purposes. This is accomplished through a known gene that had not previously been implicated in cellulose or cell wall synthesis in combination with specific light frequency ranges.
Reference Number
D-1509
Market Applications
-Agriculture
-Biofuels
Features, Benefits & Advantages
-Increases cell wall and cellulose content
-Decreases the cost in pre-treatment.
-Increases the volume of bioethanol production per pound of biomass.
-Decreases problems with lodgings (the misplacement of roots and stems from their traditional vertical positioning leading to lower crop yield and diminishes the nutrient density of the crop)
Intellectual Property
A provisional patent was filed 6/18/2018, serial number 62686507.
Development Stage
Proof of concept testing has been done.
Researchers
Venugopal Mendu, Assistant Professor of Cell Wall Biology, Department of Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University
Keywords
FKF1, gene, cellulose, cell wall, biofuel, crop, light, blue, spectrum