The Swedish Research Council Formas has chosen "Bioimprove-Improved biomass and bioprocessing properties of wood" as one of the seven new Strong Research Environments with a 25 million SEK grant during the five years' period of 2010-2014. The programme is lead by Hannele Tuominen from Umeå Plant Science Centre, and the research consortium consists of 11 scientists from Umeå University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The project aims at identification of some of the molecular mechanisms that control biomass production and chemical composition of the wood in forest trees, and how this knowledge can be utilised to improve production of materials and green chemicals from the lignocellulosic raw material in biorefinery type of applications. Genetically modified hybrid aspen trees will be produced in order to improve biomass production and to test their performance also in field conditions. In addition to the biomass production capacity of forest trees, an important factor for bioprocessing of lignocellulosic material in biorefineries is its susceptibility to the acid and enzymatic treatments required to break down the cellulose to glucose molecules. The susceptibility is largely determined by the chemical properties of the lignocellulosic raw material. We will therefore modify the composition and content of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin in transgenic hybrid aspen trees, and analyse the effect on the bioprocessing properties in a laboratory-scale biorefinery. The expected outcome of the programme is the creation of a new research environment where wood biologists, wood chemists and ecologists interact to create a sustainable production of trees with new and enhanced properties to meet the requirements for new products, sustainable energy use and decreased CO2 emissions.
Read more about the strong research environments granted by Formas at http://www.formas.se/formas_templates/Page____5471.aspx
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