14 DAY TRIAL // This past April 3, researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada announced that they had successfully created a new generation of trees that, when compared to their run-off-the-mill counterparts, were way easier to turn into paper and biofuel.
As detailed on the official website for the University of British Columbia, one of the chief hurdles that must be overcome when processing trees in order to obtain paper or biofuel is figuring out what to do with all the lignin that they contain.
Specialists explain that lignin is a polymer that is found in large concentrations in the cell walls of most plants, including trees. In its structure, lignin contains ether bonds that are difficult to break down.
Consequently, the presence of this polymer in the cell walls of trees stunts the production of paper and biofuel. As researcher Shawn Mansfield put it, “One of the largest impediments for the pulp and paper industry as well as the emerging biofuel industry is a polymer found in wood known as lignin.”
For the time being, companies that are in the business of producing paper and biofuel deal with lignin by removing it altogether. However, the problem is that doing so requires the use of quite a lot of chemicals. Besides, the process burns a lot of energy and results in lots of waste.
Hoping to solve this problem, specialists at the University of British Columbia have genetically engineered trees whose lignin is easy to break down. Specifically, these brainiacs have introduced ester bonds in the structure of lignin.
They say that, unlike ether bonds, ester ones are fairly easily broken down by means of various chemicals. This means that removing this polymer from the structure of cell walls is no longer a hurdle, the scientists who worked on this project explain.
Interestingly enough, the specialists say that they managed to make lignin easier to dispose of, without causing the trees to lose their strength in the process. They go on to argue that, according to evidence at hand, the technology that they developed can be used not just on trees, but on other plants as well.
“We’re designing trees to be processed with less energy and fewer chemicals, and ultimately recovering more wood carbohydrate than is currently possible. It is truly a unique achievement to design trees for deconstruction while maintaining their growth potential and strength, ” Shawn Mansfield explained.
The researchers envision a future where genetically engineered trees like the ones that they obtained are planted as crops and used to support the developing biofuel industry. Given the urgency of tackling climate change and global warming, the specialists say that this technology has the potential to yield noteworthy benefits.
“We’re a petroleum reliant society. We rely on the same resource for everything from smartphones to gasoline. We need to diversify and take the pressure off of fossil fuels. Trees and plants have enormous potential to contribute carbon to our society,” specialist Shawn Mansfield said.