7-06: Assessing yields and recalcitrance of leading lignocellulosic biomass in California for conversion to transportation fuels

From the fertile agricultural fields in Central Valley to the verdant timberland in the north and teeming urban centers in the south, California possesses a vast reservoir of cellulosic biomass.  As the state that consumes the highest volume of gasoline, there is a need to evaluate these resources for their conversion potential to biofuels.  Though multiple factors (e.g., economics, location, and availability) affect a biomass potential, this study will shed light on two key parameters of the leading cellulosic resources in the state: sugar content and recalcitrance.  High-throughput methodologies for compositional analysis and pretreatment with co-hydrolysis are employed to perform the analysis.  This study focuses on cellulosic materials we have identified to have the greatest potential to impact fuel supply, specifically wood-based residues from the northern counties, agricultural residue from the central state, and municipal solid wastes from the south.