NREL leads research yielding new insights into how bacteria breaks down lignin

In Colorado, collaboration between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and three other national laboratories has yielded new insight into the ability of bacteria to break down the hardy part of a plant known as lignin. The additional understanding of the process could open a path to industrial applications.

The newly published research builds upon previous observations at NREL, reported in 2015, on the ability of 14 strains of bacteria to break down lignin oligomers and take advantage of those components. With that knowledge, researchers from NREL embarked on a collaborative effort to examine the three bacteria that did the best at attacking lignin.