Cited research: Angew. Chem. Int. Edn doi:10.1002/anie.201000655 (2010)

Woody plants could become a viable feedstock for biofuels, thanks to research at oil-giant Shell.

Jean-Paul Lange at the Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam and his colleagues have developed a technique to convert lignocellulose — a component of plant cell walls that is hard to break down — into levulinic acid, and from that to valeric acid. This can then be used to make esters that can be burned as fuel.

The team devised a method to produce the valeric acid and refined known procedures for the other steps. The authors say that valeric biofuels, owing to their chemical properties, may perform better than other candidate biofuels. A blend of the valeric fuels with regular petrol or diesel did not cause any discernable engine damage in ten vehicles tested. K.S.