Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Our project is about making bio fuel from plants but we also need to make ethanol.
We want to extract glucose from a plant that are waste products like grass or fruit peels. so we want to know what has the highest amount of glucose and is commonly thrown away or is considered a waste.

Hi Mimiekkins,

Welcome to Science Buddies! It sounds like you might be interested in this project idea: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p038.shtml, and you can use this project to help you get started: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p034.shtml

You can use the information in this project to figure out how to determine the glucose content of different plants: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p049.shtml

I hope this helps you get started. Please post again (in this same thread) if you have more questions.

Heather

Do you have an idea of what type of Enzyme i can use to break down the cellulose into glucose?
Or something that can resemble an enzyme to break it down?

Hi Mimiekkins,

Cellulase enzymes can be used to break down cellulose into glucose. Here is a Wikipedia article that includes information about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulosic_ethanol. Keep in mind that Wikipedia is not always a reliable source, but the bibliogrpahy contains many references that can help you in your background research.

I hope this helps!

Heather