IIT Guwahati Researchers Study on Petroleum-based Fuel System

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New Delhi: Researchers at IIT Guwahati are looking at petroleum-based fuel systems.

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have published a study on the effectiveness of a particular bacterial endoglucanase enzyme, RfGH5 4 from Ruminococcus flavefaciens, in breaking down woody biomatter into simple sugar that can be fermented successfully to produce bioethanol - a renewable fuel that can replace petroleum-based fuel systems, according to an official statement.

Arun Goyal, head of the department of biosciences and bioengineering at IIT Guwahati, oversaw the work in association with academics from the University of Lisbon in Portugal.

The statement further stated that due to the issues with diminishing fossil fuel reserves and the environmental pollution connected to their development and use, the production of fuel from renewable biological sources has attracted great scientific interest in recent years.

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The lignocellulose that has been taken from plants is broken down by biological catalysts (enzymes) called cellulases and then fermented in order to produce bioethanol for industrial use as fuel. One such enzyme for cellulases is endoglucanase. The ineffectiveness of these enzymes is the barrier to the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to bioethanol. Additionally, hemicellulose, which cannot be broken down by many endoglucanases, is present in the lignocellulosic biomass together with cellulose, it added.

The RfGH5 4 endoglucanase, developed by scientists at IIT Guwahati, has demonstrated its effectiveness in dissolving lignocellulosic and hemicellulosic biomass for eventual conversion to bioethanol fuel.

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