New research has found cover crops that are viable in Washington's normal "off season" don't hurt the soil and can be sold as a biofuel source.

In collaboration with other Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs), researchers at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) are developing industrially feasible techniques for second-generation biofuel production from oilcane, an oil-rich variety of sugarcane, to help meet our growing societal demand for fuels.

A team of agricultural economists, environmental scientists and policy experts envisions a path toward a carbon-neutral agricultural future by expanding the reach of policies designed to promote low-carbon biofuels for transportation and aviation.

Plant cell wall components such as cellulose are abundant sources of carbohydrates that are widely used in biofuels and bioproducts; however, extraction of these components from plant biomass is relatively difficult due to their complexity.

As the global push for sustainable biofuels intensifies, lignocellulosic biomass has emerged as a prime candidate for biofuels and biochemicals owing to its abundance and renewability. This biomass, derived from plant materials, holds great promise as a feedstock for biofuel production. However, the pretreatment process required to break down lignocellulose often yields toxic byproducts like lignin-derived phenolic compounds and furanyl aldehydes.