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Biomass is a recalcitrant, heterogeneous matrix of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin that resists microbial and enzymatic breakdown. Overcoming this recalcitrance is the major economic barrier to the conversion of biomass to sugars or other chemicals. Heat, acid and other chemicals are used in pretreatment steps to open the biomass structure so that it can be converted into fermentable sugars by enzymes. Engineers at the University of California at Riverside (UCR; www.ucr.edu) have developed a new pretreatment method (flowsheet) that can reduce the need for enzymes in downstream steps. The technique, known as co-solvent-enhanced lignocellulosic fractionation (CELF), employs aqueous solutions of the polar, aprotic solvent tetrahydrofuran (THF) to enhance the effectiveness of the widely used dilute-acid pretreatment. Using CELF, a substantial portion of the fermentable sugars in hemicellulose are recovered in solution, and about 90% of the lignin is removed from the biomass, explains research leader Charles Wyman, who is a professor in the UCR Chemical and Environmental Engineering Dept. and holds the Ford Motor Company Chair in Environmental Engineering of the Center for Environmental Research and Technology in the Bourns College…