Biofuels Image Gallery

Title :

Scanning Electron Microscopy: Enzyme Hydrolysis Only (a)

Description :

(a) A corn stover particle shows a smooth surface with a few micron-sized pores after enzyme hydrolysis converted 11% of cellulose to glucose in 3 h. (b) This corn stover particle has many more pores. It was pretreated in water at 190°C for 15 min and hydrolyzed by enzymes at 50°C for 3 h, resulting in 40% cellulose conversion to glucose. The results illustrate that pretreatment changes lignocellulosic-structure susceptibility to attack by enzymes. Higher resolution in future imaging techniques will facilitate a deeper understanding of underlying molecular mechanisms.

Citation :

U.S. DOE. 2006. Breaking the Biological Barriers to Cellulosic Ethanol: A Joint Research Agenda, DOE/SC/EE-0095, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science and Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, http://genomicsgtl.energy.gov/biofuels/.

Credit or Source :

Images and conditions from unpublished work of M. Zeng, N. Mosier, C. Huang, D. Sherman, and M. Ladisch, 2006.

Hi Res :

High-Resolution Image

Image Use and Credits
Almost all the images on these pages are original graphics created by the U.S. Department of Energy Genome Program's Genome Management Information System (GMIS). You will recognize GMIS images by their credit line. Permission to use these graphics is not needed, but please credit the U.S. Department of Energy Genome Programs and provide the website http://genomics.energy.gov. All other images were provided by third parties and not created by the U.S. Department of Energy. You must contact the person listed in the credit line before using those images.