First EPOBIO Reports released today
23 November 2006

• EPOBIO reports: Executive Summaries
  115 Kb PDF
  
  
• Plant Cell Walls flagship report: Cell Wall Saccharification
  532 Kb PDF
  
  
• Biopolymers flagship report: Alternative Sources of Natural Rubber
  1279 Kb PDF
  
  
• Plant Oils flagship report: Production of Wax Esters in Crambe
  492 Kb PDF

On Thursday 23rd November 2006, the EPOBIO project released the first series of EPOBIO reports on the potential of plants to provide sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels.

The EPOBIO project, funded under the European Commission’s ‘Integrating and strengthening the ERA’ programme of FP6, provides the science to support policy decisions to realise the economic potential of sustainable resources from non-food crops. The project is funded by the European Commission and is led by CNAP, a research centre in the University of York’s Department of Biology.

The project focuses on three ‘flagship’ areas - biopolymers, plant oils and the use of plant cell walls in biorefining. These areas have been identified as offering the greatest benefit to society which could be achieved in as little as 10-15 years time.The EPOBIO reports combine detailed scientific, technical, economic and environmental analyses of the potential of non-food crops to provide alternative sources of natural rubber, lubricants and industrial feedstocks.

Key issues highlighted in the reports are:

Biopolymers - Alternative sources of natural rubber:

• natural rubber is a strategic commodity, irreplaceable by synthetic alternatives for many of its applications.
• the rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis, is at risk from a fungal disease, South American Leaf Blight, which has already decimated large-scale rubber production in South America .
• the incidence of allergic reactions to proteins in natural rubber (latex) is increasing. Future standards will require protein-free high performance latex for medical products.
• future shortages in supply are predicted due to the replacement of rubber trees with palm trees for biofuel production.
• potential of the Guayule shrub as an alternative rubber source

Plant oils - Production of wax esters in Crambe:

• plant-derived oils are a sustainable means of providing essential products currently derived from petroleum.
• wax esters have excellent properties as lubricants but their use has previously been limited by the high cost of extraction from jojoba seeds.
• the low cost production of wax esters from the non-food oil crop Crambe (Crambe abyssinica) can be viable in Europe.

Plant cell walls - Cell wall saccharification:

• the cost effective, efficient conversion of plant cell walls is key to realising the full potential of lignocellulose feedstock.
• the saccharification step is a major bottleneck in the use of lignocellulose material.
• plant material and processing methods need to be optimised so that material can be more easily extracted in order to increase yield and quality of the end products and reduce energy and chemical inputs.
• joint molecular and analytical tools are required to characterise the diverse range of biomass feedstocks, develop high-throughput assays for digestibility and optimise enzyme action.

EPOBIO involves an international partnership between experts in plant science, environmental impact assessment, economic analysis and social expectations. Through the production of these and future reports, EPOBIO will establish the evidence-base required for the successful development of bio-based, renewable products to benefit society.