UW-Madison researchers have developed an improved pretreatment process for robust conversion of biomass. This process, known as Sulfite Pretreatment to Overcome Recalcitrance of Lignocellulose (SPORL), reduces the energy consumption needed for size-reduction processes, required before enzymatic hydrolysis, by more than tenfold.
Follow this link to learn more: http://www.warf.org/technologies.jsp?ipnumber=P08193US