Thomas P. West
Plant biomass from grasses is an underutilized feedstock for the microbial production of chemicals and biopolymers. Hydrolysates of this type of plant biomass provide sufficient levels of glucose or xylose to support specialty chemical and biopolymer production. Considering the availability of these grasses worldwide, additional studies are needed to determine whether the production of industrially important chemicals and biopolymers from grasses using microbial bioconversion is feasible.