Cow Rumen Enzymes for Better Biofuels

The article I just read was about finding ways to break down plant biomass in the cows Rumen. I didnt' really understand some of the article because it was all science talk but what I did understand was that they put bags of switchgrass in the cows rumen to break down the plant biomass and convert it into energy. The cows digestive system allows it to eat 150 pounds of plant matter every day. This tackles a major barrier to the development of more affordable and environmentally sustainable biofuels. The new way of converting the leaves and stems of grasses or woody plants to liquid fuel is more efficient than relying on fermentation. They say this process is not an easy one though, "The problem with second-generation biofuels is the problem of unlocking the soluble fermentable sugars that are in plant cell wall." said professor Roderick Mackie. Researchers focused on switchgrass for this study, they incubated the grass for 72 hours and conducted a geonmic analysis of all of the microbes that adhered to the switchgrass. These results suggest that the bovine rumen is one of the best microbial habitats to explore for sources of plant- degrading enzymes, the researchers reported. I think that this new discovery is pretty cool, it helps the cows help us make ethanol. This new way of producing ethanol is more efficient than fermentation.