Back to top

Surveying the Energy Crop Model Brachypodium Distachyon for Improved Thermo-Chemical and Biological Conversion Efficiency

Principal Investigator/Project Leader: 
Ana Lucia
Caicedo
Co-Principal Investigator/Co-Project Leader: 
Department of Project: 
Biology Dept.
Project Description: 

Increased use of biomass fuels is a promising option for renewable fuels that could decrease our dependence on oil and reduce greenhouse gases. Unfortunately, we currently do not have clear knowledge about the plant traits that should be considered bioenergy traits and should be subjected to breeding and selection. We propose to use a grass energy model organism (Brachypodium distachyon), and treatment with two promising plant biomass transformation techniques (biological and thermochemical conversion) to examine the effect of natural diversity on biofuel production efficiency.