Butanediol production from corn and sugar beet stover

Corn Stover

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have found a more efficient way of  first producing Tricarboxylic acid (TCA) from inedible lignocellulose parts of plants.  The TCA is then converted to butanediol (BDO)  The raw material of orange peels, corn or sugar beet stover are digested by modified E. coli bacteria in a 5 part process to produce butanediol  BDO.

Over a billion pounds of BDO containing spandex are produced each year for clothing and furniture.   The pathway could also be used to produce chicken feed and food additives.

An abstract of the article, Engineering nonphosphorylative metabolism to generate lignocellulose-derived products, appears in the Journal Nature Chemical Biology

Use of corn stover (leaves and stalks)  for cattle feed - 2 min. 

Optimizing the amount of corn stover removal for no-till agriculture - 3 min.