The project worked on the identification of new genes, enzymes, microbial strains and the development of microorganisms with industrial application in biomass ethanol production.
An enzymatic cocktail for the degradation of pretreated sugarcane biomass and also yeasts with high fermentative potential were obtained.
To establish an economically viable process, ethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass requires that all sugars (C5/C6) components of the plant cell wall are released and converted to ethanol during microbial fermentation. In this direction, production strains efficient in the production of hydrolytic enzymes (cellulases, betaglucosidase and accessory enzymes) that could be grown on industrial and low-cost substrates were developed in order to decrease the cost of enzyme production.