University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers develop chemical process that efficiently produces biofuels from cellulose: “developed a 
promising new chemical method to liberate the sugar molecules trapped inside inedible plant biomass, a key step in the creation of cellulosic biofuels. The approach, which is described in the March 9 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, can convert three-quarters of the sugars locked up in raw corn stover into simple, fermentable sugars, making it an attractive alternative to the enzyme-based approaches currently favored by biofuels researchers. ” http://bit.ly/c0mfRA
Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center supported this biomass research project: “The researchers found that water was the key to making the process efficient. Without water, the sugars produced by the action of the ionic liquid and the acid rapidly degraded into other compounds.” http://bit.ly/cMYxV9
- Ronald Raines UW-Madison biochemist: “The research projects in the Raines laboratory are designed to reveal how biological phenomena can be explained with the principles of chemistry.” http://bit.ly/aO5qPH
- Biochemistry research in the Raines lab at UW-Madison: “developed processes to synthesize proteins and convert crude biomass into useful fuels and chemicals” http://bit.ly/c3OxZE