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News tagged with cellulose

Light but stable: novel cellulose-silica gel composite aerogels

(PhysOrg.com) -- Delicate and translucent as a puff of air, yet mechanically stable, flexible, and possessing amazing heat-insulation properties—these are the properties of a new aerogel made of cellulose ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jan 27, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Chile brings fires under control as probe expands

Firefighters reported progress Wednesday in bringing under control wildfires in southern Chile that have destroyed about 45,000 hectares (112,000 acres) as a special prosecutor began investigating the source ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 04, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Go to work on a Christmas card

If all the UK's discarded wrapping paper and Christmas cards were collected and fermented, they could make enough biofuel to run a double-decker bus to the moon and back more than 20 times, according to the researchers behind ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Dec 23, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Chemicals and biofuel from wood biomass

(PhysOrg.com) -- A method developed at Aalto University in Finland makes it possible to use microbes to produce butanol suitable for biofuel and other industrial chemicals from wood biomass. Butanol is particularly ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Dec 19, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Bacterial filters reduce stink from big pig factories

Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) on industrial animal factories can stink up an entire county, due to ammonia, and a smorgasbord of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Jeppe Lund Nielsen of Aalborg University, ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Japan's Sony generates power from paper

Japanese electronics giant Sony on Thursday revealed technology that generates electricity from shredded paper.

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Dec 15, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (7) | comments 2

E. coli bacteria engineered to eat switchgrass and make transportation fuels

A milestone has been reached on the road to developing advanced biofuels that can replace gasoline, diesel and jet fuels with a domestically-produced clean, green, renewable alternative.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 29, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (10) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Mast from classic racing yacht holds one of the keys to sustainable biofuels

(PhysOrg.com) -- The mast from a classic racing yacht and samples from a Forestry Commission breeding trial have played a key role in the search for sustainable biofuels.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 25, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

A corny turn for biofuels from switchgrass

Many experts believe that advanced biofuels made from cellulosic biomass are the most promising alternative to petroleum-based liquid fuels for a renewable, clean, green, domestic source of transportation ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 18, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

First-of-a-kind tension wood study broadens biofuels research

Taking a cue from Mother Nature, researchers at the Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center have undertaken a first-of-its-kind study of a naturally occurring phenomenon in trees to spur the development ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Oct 25, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Dividing corn stover makes ethanol conversion more efficient

(PhysOrg.com) -- Not all parts of a corn stalk are equal, and they shouldn't be treated that way when creating cellulosic ethanol, say Purdue University researchers.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 25, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Uncharted territory: Scientists sequence the first carbohydrate biopolymer

(PhysOrg.com) -- DNA and protein sequencing have forever transformed science, medicine, and society. Understanding the structure of these complex biomolecules has revolutionized drug development, medical diagnostics, ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Oct 11, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

U.S. unlikely to hit Renewable Fuel Standard for cellulosic biofuels: report

The biofuel industry will not be able to meet the cellulosic production requirements of the Renewable Fuel Standard without significant advancements in technology or investment, according to a National Academy of Sciences ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Oct 05, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Orange peels could be made into biodegradable plastic

Plastic waste is one of the worst forms of trash because it takes so long to degrade, thus overflowing our landfills and polluting our oceans and waterways. But what if we could make plastic from a recycled, natural, biodegradable ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Sep 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Pretreatment, proper harvest time boost ethanol from switchgrass

Adding a pretreatment step would allow producers to get more ethanol from switchgrass harvested in the fall, according to a Purdue University study.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Aug 31, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Cellulose

Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula (C6H10O5)n, a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β(1→4) linked D-glucose units.

Cellulose is the structural component of the primary cell wall of green plants, many forms of algae and the oomycetes. Some species of bacteria secrete it to form biofilms. Cellulose is the most common organic compound on Earth. About 33 percent of all plant matter is cellulose (the cellulose content of cotton is 90 percent and that of wood is 50 percent).

For industrial use, cellulose is mainly obtained from wood pulp and cotton. It is mainly used to produce cardboard and paper; to a smaller extent it is converted into a wide variety of derivative products such as cellophane and rayon. Converting cellulose from energy crops into biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol is under investigation as an alternative fuel source.

Some animals, particularly ruminants and termites, can digest cellulose with the help of symbiotic micro-organisms that live in their guts. Cellulose is not digestible by humans and is often referred to as 'dietary fiber' or 'roughage', acting as a hydrophilic bulking agent for feces.

For more information about Cellulose, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.