In an earlier post I discussed Brazil’s current woes over biofuels and the big bet the country made on them.  One of the big complaints against ethanol has been that it has driven up food prices around the world.  So scientists are working on ways to convert the inedible portions of common biofuel crops (corn, sugarcane, etc)–such as corn husks.

here is a taste:

Chemical engineer Rajai Atalla of the University of Wisconsin is attacking another fibrous plant component, cellulose. His aim is to convert it into useful glucose, which can then be fermented into ethanol. Atalla finds that briefly soaking corn stover (the leftover parts of the plant, such as husks) in a solution of sodium hydroxide, ethanol, and water changes the molecular structure of the cellulose, allowing him to convert nearly twice as much of it as is possible with existing methods.