September 22, 2008 12:00 PM PDT
After fermentation, it's time to gather data. Mascoma technicians use chromatography to find out how much sugar and alcohol a microorganism produces during fermentation.
The endgame is to design a microorganism that makes a lot of ethanol from wood chips and other nonfood feedstocks. These microorganisms also need to be robust enough to be able to survive in ethanol for a long time. At a certain point, the brew from fermentation becomes toxic for the microorganisms, so engineers need to optimize the process.
Photo by Martin LaMonica/CNET Networks
Caption by Martin LaMonica
